!' 










Class 
Book. 



N^Y 



.?)04 



Gopyiight}l°____ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



«^^ ^1^'4'ii'"^:^:!^: 



The Rock of Arranmore 



A Narrative Dramatic Poem in 
Three Scenes With Introduction. 



By JOHN O'NEILL. 



NEW YORK; 
O'SHEA & COMPANY. 

DUBLIN : 

M. H. GILL & SON. 

1904. 



UBRflKY ai CONGRESS 
Two Copias Received 

MAR 15 1904 

n Copyright S«try 
jCLASS ay XXc. No. 
COPY B 



\A\\ 



^ 



^ 



Entered at Stationers' Hall. 



Copyrigiit, 1902. 
By JOHN O'NEILL. 



All Rights Reserved. 



THE ARGUMENT. 



The approaching conflict at the Yellow Ford, near the river 
Blackwater in Armagh, August the tenth, 1598, between the 
nation of the Gael under Fardora's son, the Prince of Ulad, 
on the one side, and the European veteran armies of Queen 
Elizabeth on the other, is brought before the judgment ol 
heaven. 

A commission is given to the patron or guardian sainti 
of both nations to go forth and award the coming victory; 
founding their decision on the results thereof to future gene- 
rations, which are to be foreshown to them in vision. On 
such conditions, the victory is regarded as already passed, and 
won by Queen Eire, (pronounced Era) and the trial begins. 
The celestial court is held on the double star in the constella- 
tion Cygnus, which forms a cross in the northern sky. 

Action of the drama: the finding of judgment on the future 
events of one hundred and forty-seven years, from Yellow 
Ford to Fontenoy. 

Time of the action: the same as taken in the recital, about 
two hours; but to the celestial spirits, one moment only. 

Place; Dun Angus on the rock in the Isle of Arranmore. 



DRAMATIS PERSONAE. 



Queen Eire {pronounced Era) representing the nation of 
the Gael. 

Her sister Fohla, the goddess of wisdom, her counsellor. 

Her sister Banba, goddess of the Island of Inisfail and 
agriculture. 

The Tribemonster, representing the evil of the tribe system, 

spearman to the Queen. 

Mac Alpruin, Guardian Saint of Erin. 

Saint George, the Cappadociau Youth, Guardian Saint of 
Albion. 

Crom Cruah, a demon of Satan. 



VI 



IMTRODUCTION. 

There is a cross in heaven, and at its foot, 
"Where, of the dying God the feet might bleed, 
'Twixt Altair and th' enspher'd Orphean lute; 
There burns a star, which to the sage's ken, 
Slieweth twin lights, in single orbs apart, 
One emerald, and one siderial gold, 
Upon the Milky Way, ere galaxy 
Its widening track displays. Thither repair 
Celestial regents crown'd, their court supreme 
To hold, and in foresighted vision doom 
Impending battle and Queen Eire's lot 
At Yellow Ford; if by defeat deprav'd, 
A Herod she must serve, and to his likeness 
Eesemble her great soul; or right with wrong 
Conflicting, she asserts to all the world 
True human liberty : a plea to heaven 
Itself, for suffrage; all Beatitudes, 
Whom Gael or Saxon e'er invok'd or hymn'd 
With cloister psalmody in jewell'd shrines. 
'Not marvel that the Saxon dames begat 
Worthies of heaven ; for well the olden time 

vii 



viii INTRODUCTION. 

Attesteth, ere their carnal ancestry 

Supernal sold for earthly, and forsook 

The cross for Mammon, whence inhuman crimes, 

Which on man's chastisement impos'd sevenfold 

Sin's penalty; and laid on righteous necks 

Burdens, the proof of mighty constancy. 

But when the seed of the apostate king, 

Elizabeth, declar'd the Christ, her foe, 

With bonds and death, weening to grasp and hold 

Fair Banba's fruitful plains, and drive at will 

The landless Gael; she never dreamt in sleep. 

The warrior's way of serving on His side. 

Now in God's vision sit, of Eire's fate. 
Umpires, the connoniz'd of two fam'd Isles, 
Who school'd the fathers of the Gael and Gall;* 
These take the golden, those, the emerald star. 
That Calpruin's son to eyes immortal shew 
The days unborn; of all that spirit host. 
Ablest to vision forth the trials vast. 
Of the great fold he gather'd and conclude 
Victor or vanquish'd, by the suffrage free 
Of arbitrating heaven : whether the debt, 

*The Saxon or English. 



INTRODUCTION. ix 

Human transgression owes, were surer paid 

(The fratricidal blood, too often spilt) 

By purgatorial pains, on earth endur'd 

Ages of tribulation, mid the wrongs 

Quick spirts abhor; or victory alli'd 

To faith, outlaw'd and militant, were due, 

To nerve with will twofold, a great resolve. 

That spurns the tyrant and subverts his ways. 

In the long struggle, lest it perish whole. 

Then would the Just, ere biding time they search, 
Foregone conclude, as late in heaven propos'd, 
Blackwater's coming strife: Fardora's son 
The victor with the tribal force he leagu'd. 
Their penance due a little while to wait; 
But judgment stay, till of that boon preferr'd. 
The sequel in the distant years they find: 
Which like infers what equal justice claims. 
If to the Saxon cause, good works redound. 

Then searching through the maze of Universe, 
Earth's distant orb they find ; there little trace 
Of Eden ; save as guardians nearer set 
Upon the airy fringe of the great globe. 
Two cherubs in the Eve and Morn appear. 



X INTRODUCTION. 

'Tween these the earth revolves, her nights and days, 
Her climes and seasons four; but they unmoved, 
O'er fields of light, their watch incessant keep. 
Their mystic shapes in priestly purple stol'd, 
And wing'd like angels in cathedral hues 
That lume the solemn chancel. In like mood. 
And floating eastward, Eire's Isle, their search, 
Leaving the western ocean in night's shade. 
Attended by the morning star, appears. 
In size, her disk, a satellite might seem. 
E'en the chaste moon of the great continent 
She follow'd from the deep; and shines to view, 
A beauty austere; a stern recluse or sphere 
Where gods might dwell, to which, the world's approach 
Were a defilement: save what lingering smiles, 
Under her veil of flitting clouds, disclose 
A land of verdurous life, where all the blooms 
That earth with heaven compare, so native breathe 
Their perfumes on her greens. There Aina first. 
Her fairy world began, with vivid scenes * 
To mortals bless'd; all beauty's naked forms. 
Life size or puny, as they list, but chaste ; 
• The Moon. 



INTRODUCTION. xi 

Vindictive to unfavour'd eyes, that dare 

With looks profane; if by the sportive brook, 

Or spell-bound ruin, revelry they keep. 

Or on the pastures of green-sided hills, 

Sacred to Aina, which the Lordly sun 

Hath never sear'd: his seasons duly care 

Her lymph creation, wheresoe'er their court. 

Wrought of her beams on limber stalks, they keep. 

And spread the feast, and blandish haughty lips 

With filter'd julep from a golden cup. 

Fresh pluck'd and fragrant for their fairy Queen. 

But hark the skylark chanting to the da^vn ! 
The sun of all the nations, from bright dreams 
Awakes; and mounting, hails the world with hope. 
Before his car, the kingdom of his eye 
Salutes the hills in friendship, and beneath. 
Glosses the cheek of lake and river fam'd. 
Dispels the mist, and gives the flowers to smile ; 
Earth's purej^t offspring, whose pale innocence 
The twinkle of his beam first taught to blush. 
But when from ocean's brow he scans the shore, 
In meditation of his length of days. 
At Eire's feet he lingers, to recall 



xii INTRODUCTIOX. 

With hope the happy memories of her reign: 
How oft in years he hail'd the Holy Isle, 
AVhose wisdom honour'd his inferior ray. 
To spread her glory's fame, and hither light 
The nations, for their lore. How hard to think, 
Such loveliness should ever bosom grief ! 
Life's font so bless'd beget a world of tears ! 



The Rock of Arranmore. 



Scene '1. 

The fortlicoming victory at the Yellow Ford, being con- 
ditionally assumed as foregone, its first sequence, after a 
second victory on Seaghais' Hills, presented to the celestial 
courts, is the judgment of heaven upon the Gael, in the over- 
throw at Cremna, for the crimes of the Tribemonster. Eire 
with her bleeding breast, fallen into a deadly swoon, unseen and 
unheard of, seems lost forever. Arising after forty-eight 
years, she wanders to the Isle of Arranmore, where she re- 
vives Banba, whom she finds expiring in the agony of grief. 
Banba recounts to her the aflBictiors of her people since her 
defeat at Cremna. Eire, abandoned to the tale of horror, cries 
aloud to all the nations. Cromwell's descent on Banba. Her 
despondency. The ancient oracles are dumb. Eire sends her 
forth to consult the Christian shrines. Saint George, before 
the heavenly Powers, reflects upon the scene, 

At Eire's wounds, now spirits that once had hearts, 
Alien or friends on earth, behold, they mourn ! 
And in their courts on high, their judgment blend 
With interceding looks and human sighs, 

13 



14 THE ROCK OF ABBANMORE. 

Thus in the Golden and the Emerald stars : 

"0 Victory ! Why gleams thy haughty trow 
So godlike, 'neath thy earthly diadem ? 
Why, on the wings of eagles that grow young, 
Claim'st thou thy high pavilion ? Why proud kings 
Adore thee, and ambition ever mounts 
Thy steed, behind thee on the rubi'd track 
Of glory's desolation ? Thou dost sow 
The conquerors ; but on thy soil their fruit 
Is not perennial ; for their empires long 
Are sepulcher'd, or thralldom on their necks 
Insults the memory of thy gory feasts, 
And the noon sweats they bore to sup with thee. 
But thou art well descended, laurell'd Maid ! 
Discern thee who thou art ; go teach the brave 
Which world to conquer : only a little while 
Earth's glory spurns the dust, and day is done. 

"Aghast, she swoons, pierc'd in the mother's breast. 
The nurse of saints and heroes : Oh ! her wide. 
Far wanderings ! the world's cold charity 
To house, and many a slanderous tongue to mock, 
Her nakedness ! Alas ! who now shall care 
Thy vineyard in the fruitage, Godly son 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 15 

Of Calpruin ! or f orefend the winter blights ?" 
'Twas thus the golden and the emerald spheres, 
As with one voice, sidereal music hymn'd; 
Which thus, alone, the golden choir prolongs : 
"Vain glory pass'd, to higher glory call'd; 
He visit'th them. How dark the sudden change 
Ere light! change, how seeming merciless! 
God's retribution on Gadelas' sons, 
The judgment of the fratricidal race. 
From distant ages of remorseless guilt 
So long delay'd, hath fall'n. Denounc'd they stand; 
Who otherwise, in filial faith so meek. 
And household worship to the Temple's Lord, 
Their Father, early known and late rever'd. 
Had fed the nations and God's table serv'd. 
To fill the vacant thrones of Satan's fall 
With human Seraphs; who, despite the flesh, 
Eeplac'd essential spirits there that sate. 
And their 'lost crowns put on. Heaven! be Thou 
Her staff and guide ! and give to Eire's strife 
The vict'ry of the spirit; whose tear floods 
Outdeluge human woe !" Thus mourn'd the just : 
JBut Calpruin's godly son, before the throne, 



16 TEE ROCK OF ARE AN MORE. 

Mindful of Eire's trials, long and harsh, 

On knees of adoration, with the Angel 

Of the Great Council, silently commun'd 

On grace and fortitude; and for the fold 

And vineyard of his toil, a father's tears, 

The dews of mercy, suppliant fiU'd his eyes. 

For now the landless Gael, dispersion guides; 

And Scythian fates, that led great Miled's sons 

To Inisfail, spir'ts, which good or ill, 

Follow a noble race, lament aloud 

By the round tower at eve, by Druid cirque. 

By Eath and Brugh, and hero's lofty Cairn 

And holy Shee, the venerable 3'ears; 

Long memories, thick-cluster'd with the days 

Of past nobility and fancy's lore, 

Shaded for ever: nature mourns the jar. 

Her first created harmonies impair'd. 

Then guardian rivers' ^^^ foaming mouths gan roar: 

Tonn Clinda on the Southern coast; to North, 

Tonn Tuaithe, and East, Tonn Rury's waves. 

Their direful larum bellow from the deep. 

And war vshouts, like encountering armies raise; 

And the high mountains, on their darken'd tops, - 



THE ROCK aF ARRANMORE. 17 

Moan in dull thunder, that the bardic Gael 

They nurs'd from memory's birth, are passing now; 

And in the funeral knell, they fear their own 

And time's decrepitude. There stood an isle ^2) 

Most sacred, held, far in the Western foam 

Of Lir's * dominion, long the mystic seat 

Of adoration, where this day, is found 

The Cyclopean ruins and the dust. 

Left by the wanderers of the early world : 

A place of fate and tombs. Thither repair'd 

The Firbolg in defeat, and rais'd high piles. 

Dun Angus and Ochaill, when later gods 

Had spurn'd his altars ; where in after years, 

Bless'd Enda brought the cincture and the psalm. 

And built where once the eremite had found 

A burial site, and still the bones repose 

Mid billowy strife and misty flaws, that waft 

The sea fowl and the cloud. There on a cliff, 

Imperious o'er the main, whose arrogance 

Enrag'd the winds and the outlandish waves; 

Uttermost bourn of thf pursu'd, whose face 

Bespake no sympathy with want that made 

" The Sea God. '~~~ 



18 THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

His back her icy bed; yea, there lay one, 

Who search'd in vain the Druid oracles, 

Which fate had clos'd, and deep ancestral tombs, 

To suage her agony. Her bodice sweet 

Of water lily braids, and kirtle green 

Of scented fern, grown on Loch Lena's shore, 

Down mitr'd to the knee ; her shoon of rush. 

And round her neck, the wild ash berries beaded, 

Upon her breast sun brown'd, once thought so fair, 

Change like their seasons with her head so flat 

Upon the pulseless earth ; where with the dust, 

Mingle her spreaded locks, like throdden gold 

Under the footfalls of wayfaring feet, 

When night obscures the treasure. Perish'd there. 

Had the first form of nature's plastic grace; 

Banba, the beauteous evergreen, whom Winter, 

With Summer vied to please, and Spring's forethought 

Assur'd of Summer's mirth and Autumn's store; 

Gathered by Lir's reluctant waves to depths. 

Oblivious and unseen, on earth replac'd 

By none so fair. But there was one on foot, 

For refuge on that isle of gods entomb'd 

And cloisters wreck'd, who found her bed and look'd 



THE ROCK OF AERANMORE. 19 

Unawares upon death's slumber, near its end: 

The wanderer was Queen Eire; one who lov'd 

Melodious Banba of the silvan pipe. 

As lily loves the lake, and lake the stars. 

And mountain loves the morn : unmov'd, she gaz'd. 

But with the pale cheek of a mother's woe. 

Her robe, the spangl'd zodiac of night's sky. 

As once on Blahma's sacred top, ^^^ she wore; 

Upon her feet, the sandal pearls still gleam' d. 

And for a crown, the rainbow ; but alas ! 

No harp, for sceptre, in her hand she bore. 

Two ages, in the shroud of death she lay, 

Nor dreams now, the relentless hand of doom 

Still beacons on fulfilment. Victory, 

Fardora's son, Blackwater's fame, survive. 

And the Dark Daughter's son, on Seaghais' hills. 

Who veng'd her ancient wrongs on Saxon foes; 

But lost, all memory of her fall. E'en now, 

Three ages yet are due to bide with tears. 

The burden of her children's doom to bear. 

Her ample hall, the vacant night; her bards. 

The winds, forsaken in their caves, that moan; 

Her throne, the headland cliff, whose fossil knees 



20 THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

The howling sea wolves vainly shake, in hope 
Due time may yield her to their foamy mouths. 
Unshelter'd from the cloud sleet and the blast, 
Her bones are cold, but not her heart, she weeps. 
The rock fowl and all birds of prey, swoop-wing'd, 
Ransack the deep, and hunger not ; her food. 
The emptiness between the moon and her : 
E'en these had hearts to break and tears to shed, 
Eire ! if heaven lamented not for thee ! 
Behind her steps, a knight with batter'd shield. 
Horrific crest, and fram'd of giant bone. 
The fell Tribemonster of departed days. 
His cold sad eye was like the falling moon, 
Hung from a dismal cloud and horn'd, when eve. 
Low in the cheerless heaven, on argent dull. 
Without a star lamp sleeps, and autumn's leaves. 
From out the gravestones, in the whining blast, 
. Wanton, expose their withered nakedness. 
And dance unseemly to the mocking winds. 
Both hands his spear shaft held, of gory fame 
In ancient story, which, though weak, he still 
Deems worthy of his youthful championship. 
His passion'd visage, hollow, scarr'd, and grim. 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 21 

Belied that votive love of fatherland, 

That nurs'd him; save when tribal feud or pride. 

Blindfolded, fac'd the point at Eire's breast : 

Nathless, she lov'd him as a mother fond. 

Her son, and for her sake he longs to die. 

Who, when he saw, or dream'd he saw, the breath 

Of Eire's life, and Fohla's bosom care, 

In death embedded on that flinty breast ; 

Impetuous, ere the queen her credence yields. 

His wild amazement, thus in language vents: 

"0 Rock ! thou barren mother of the mist ! 
Sea fowl and hawk here breed unnurs'd by thee ! 
Is it because within thy hearsay, men 
Gather sepulchral marble or for augiit 
Thou hast outliv'd so many reigns of gods. 
That thy bleak shadow gainst the wintry moon. 
From harbouring of their ghosts — Dun Angus, speak I 
Canst thou breed phantoms ? Or Thou, Banba, dead I 
With beauty and virtue slain ; then death we crave. 

"AVhen didst thou perish ? Was it just before 
We found thee, or, with other gods long dead. 
Is thy immortal with such mind endow'd. 
That thou art yet unmoulder'd ? Rise and weep : 



§2 TEE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

Lov'd Eire now weeps o'er thee; breathes upon thee; 
Bear Thou thy part. How canst thou bide dumb grief 
Amidst the general woe thy kindred share? 
Wail loudly; let thy loved ones hear thy plaint; 
Deem not thy heart outwell'd, new agonies 
Are footing toward thee fast to start within, 
The spring of other tears. Woman ! great 
And many are thy woes : Awake and weep ! 
"Where is Fardora's son, that keenest light 
Of all thy watch towers? where the god-like youth, 
"\ATiom the Dark Daughter bore ; two wakeful eyes, 
Defiant set in Ulad's craggy brow. 
That never slept for thee ? Great sufferer, tell ! 
For we are conscious of a falling off; 
And in our trance, oblivion hath ras'd 
All annals, legends, lineage, Brehon laws, 
Septs, boundaries, and stori'd song of bards ; 
Or turn'd their phantoms into dark portents 
Of ruin coming towards us : where are they ? 
Oh ! have they darkened in thy misery ? 
When did thy pallid fingers close their lids? 
Or thy wan lips bent o'er them, press them down 
Eterne, to spare thy mother Eire's pain?" 



TEE BOCK OF ARRANMORE. 23 

He ceas'd; but in the sluraberer, life or breath 
No response gave ; but kept the silent course 
Of death's smooth sleeping motion toward decay; 
As in the wintry air, the waning starS; 
With thoughts unpierceable, when no rough blast 
Gives voice unto the stillness : so she sleeps, 
Till in the cold aversion of decease. 
Their minds were on the rack to know its dreams. 
And hence Ogygian Eire, seated low 
On the hard cliff and rugged, plac'd her limbs 
And warrior-suckling breasts 'neath Banba's form, 
As mother nurses babe, and with deep moan, 
Thus dove-like coo'd into her lov'd one's ear: 

"0 Loveliest of the living ! Breath of life ! 
Sweeter to taste than breathes the spirit of love 
In blushful May ! Sister in whom I see 
The mirror'd magnitude of nature's boon 
To my sea-girded realm ! Thy matin star 
Is late upon the hill, and morning airs 
Await thy slumbers on the murmuring foam! 
Light of the dreamy forests that enshroud 
The majesty of mountains ! Tenderest nurse 
Of bloom dales, where the rose and lily sleep ! 



24 TEE BOCK OF ARRANMOBE. 

Bestir thee to the call of bleating flocks 

And lowing herds unfed. Sweet Elga's queen ! 

All hearts grow pale for thee. Thy seasons cold. 

Forsaken like their nestlings, weave in vain 

Their garlands' bell; and in once happy meads, 

Summer is gra}', and sapless Winter finds 

!N"o Spring, his rigid joints to loose; for she 

To other climes hath pass'd, and Autumn's eyes 

Have slept with her last leaves. Awake, Belov'ed! 

Eecall her to the blithesome hum of bees, 

That trade for winter's store, and on her farms, 

Eeplacc the golden sheaf and seeding bloom 

Of Bregia's scented lawns. Now lift thine eyes ! 

Grand Mother, Earth, her fairest born forbids 

Longer sojourn with grief malign to dim 

The crystal of thy contemplation clear. 

''Arise, Belov'd ! come wondrous back to earth ! 

As o'er night's face, the day spring walks the air. 

"Let death, in thee bethink him, he forgets 
Thy Sister-mother's fate; for I am doom'd 
To rule Gadelas' seed to latest days. 
Harping the legends of departed years 
To manhood of unfailing worth and fame. 



THE BOCK OF AE RAN MORE. 25 

Unseen, but worsliipful. On Elga's soil, 

How can I reign without thee? How endure 

Bereavement, when the bardic harps revive 

Thy image in the hall ? Thou silvan pipe. 

Prolong thy lays ! meet me as oft we met, 

On Blahma's sacred steep, or on the slope 

Of Wisna, ere the reaper or the lark 

Had chanted, Ave with Fohla, harp'd, and sung; 

Or from Hy-Brassail's Isle of Youth returning, 

The primrose in thy hair, and on thy lips 

The budded Spring, on Erna's shore divine, 

Vre lov'd and reign'd o'er lake-encirci'd isles 

And promontories green." Thus Eire sigh'd, 

With eyes that inward search'd that face and form; 

And a mysterious sympathy, which mov'd 

Throes of returning life, ni&re dying-like 

Than bearing, which perplex'd the mother's hope: 

For Banba's mien and'heavings of distress 

Seem'd like the visage of the western sea, 

When Lir hath clear'd the tempest of its clouds, 

And yet on troubl'd bed, the dying moon 

Lies rock'd in easeless pain : on Eire's eyes, 

A hopeless stare she fix'd, and murmur'd low; 



26 THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

"What lapse of time ebbs in this burial place. 
Since I have slept? Or on this marble waste. 
What year recorded since thy fatal fall?" 

To v.'li^Jm the heroine of the bleeding breast, 
As if old Ocean would recount the years 
He slept or storm'd, but found the effort vain : 
'"The times I know not when from deadly swoon, 
I was awak'd, and by the stranger forc'd 
To wander here : but say. Thou cherish'd Babe ! 
Retreat secure, or what resistance left 
To the great-hearted champions of the Gael, 
Hath temper'd our distress?" But Banba's voice. 
As mournful as the sound of her bright streams. 
Falling through rocky clefts from sunlight far: 
"Taint as their weak resolve, my heart of woe." 
Again the queen : "What stubborn chiefs still wage 
The war of freedom on their father's hills?" 
But she of Autumn's falling leaves replies : 
"Vanquished, the chieftain wears the victor's chain; 
No pulse of native pride his bosom fires." 
Then with large eyes erect, the Mother cries : 
"What counsel to their piteous state remains? 
What aid from man or heaven ?" . But paler still. 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 21 

As broken crests of wave, foreboding storm, 
Spi'd by wreck'd mariners, that now, three days 
Upon a raft, had brook'd the starving main; 
Her lov'd one look'd in Eire's eyes : "0 Mother ! 
The words thou will'st would heavier hit thine ear 
Than the death music of Mac-Manar's harp; <•*> 
And rend thee as the forest levelling scythe 
Of Mananan, ^^^ thy foes : here let me sleep. 
Nor further wound thy soul so godly framM, 
With rustic plaint." She trembled as she spake. 
But the queen mother, in her arms of white, 
Like two pines, whose snow-laden tops incline, 
When winter drifts oer Glenariff^s steep dell, 
Nearer the heart, her woodland poet pressM ; 
With thought sublime wiling despondency : 

"Tell me thy woes and mine ; that fortitude 
Make Fate amend her harsh decree, or spend 
Its rigour: Banba, there's a potent will 
And foresight in the eyes of ancient thought. 
Which in the race of man, like ecstasy 
Divine or natural, or essence mix'd, 
Concenter'd on desire, in time outlasts 
Fire, deluge, and effacement of the sword; 



28 THE BOCK OF ARRANMORE. 

And ne'er fulfilment lacks. Herein we find 

A veritable prophet walks the earth ; 

Vain to the weak, but healthful to the strong : 

And sages there have been and holy men, 

In days of other woe, whose lips foretold. 

Grounding prediction on conclusions, drawn 

From long-liv'd justice and the general mind, 

That we again shall reign. let not woe. 

Forging the chains that bind her, lend thy cheek 

Complexion of despair, who rends her locks 

Despiteful, and in dire self durance held, 

Bars with an earthquake's rift the only path, 

That from her dungeon leads : distrustful hag 

Of man and heaven. Loved One ! feast thy hope 

With Mananan, ^^^ when peers the blighting East 

With contact of that passion on his front; 

And here with truthful light illume the fate 

That clouds me. Doth not still, Fardora's son 

Survive, to band the Gael in arms once more? 

Doth not the Chief of the Eed Cataract, 

Whom the Dark Daughter bore, though not as erst, 

Eeturning with the glorious spoils of war, 

Greeted with clansmen's shout and maiden's praise 



THE ROCK OF AERANMORE. 29 

And bards triuinpbant in the hall of harps, 
Still bless the race of Conn with holy strife 
Against dispersion ?" Thus the anxious queen : 
But fondl'd in the mother's arms, she said : 

"Long ere my flight, this place of tombs had found, 
Two cycles of the moon and twice seven snows. 
In Pintia's fane, ^'^'> that hero's ashes lay 
With thy heart's hopes; he, who the world forsook 
For them and thee; e'en maiden's bloomy cheek 
Eelinquish'd ; there he slept the sleep of kings. 
But thy supreme of chiefs, Fardora's son, ^^^ 
After vain toils of war, submission yields 
To spare his people 'neath the foreign yoke; 
But in his hall, conspiracies and snares 
Harass'd his mighty soul, and countless foes 
His life assail'd, thy fruitful plains to seize. 
Hence in the baleful keel, black hulk accurst'd ! 
With Ulad's exil'd chiefs he cross'd the sea 
To plead with distant monarchs, thy great cause; 
In vain : in foreign earth his bones are laid. 
Most kingly sepulcher'd on Rome's fam'd hill. 
Where Peter of the Keys had bled of old. 
The holy city, where all weari'd souls. 



30 THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

For refuge flee; there found thy hero peace: 

And our death's peace, long sought, as last hath come. 

"Here Banba clos'd, and at her harrowing tale. 
Amazing horror chill'd great Eire's heart 
And stricken soul : unconscious from her arms, 
She parts her lov'd one ; and on limbs unnerv'd. 
Striding, as though the rock's foundation wav'd, 
Beneath a tower, her eyeballs back she turn'd 
Upon her spearman; but his head was droop'd, 
Abash'd and stoni'd : neath her bleeding breasts, 
Her sky-wrought robe with constellation spangl'd, 
To mist light chang'd ; and her ethereal crown, 
To moonlight rainbow. Then her heart pour'd forth 
Over the sea, a voice of wrongs untold. 
As though to all the ages she had cri'd. 
Both past and coming, in her wide appeal ; 
Whose echo o'er the deep more awful sounds 
Than storms that scatter o'er his anger'd face 
Whole navies arm'd, and furious voices lift 
Amid the shrouds; or earthquakes with the wail 
Of cities, when with ruin, they shake down 
Imperial battlements: it rather seem'd, 
As if the bolt that hurl'd from highest skies. 



THE ROCK OF AREANMORE. 31 

Jehova's vain supplanters, once again. 
E'en on this solid globe were cast, to smite 
An atheist world, God's venge of human woe 
Denies or scorns. But she soon curbs her grief. 
Spurning the foreign despot, and the lot 
Of conquer'd, who was still unconquerable; 
And in her arms of white, more loving press'd 
Fair Banba, lifted from the rock ; and breath'd 
Such warmth of nature's passion in her ear, 
Nature's original of heart and tongue, 
Beyond all bardic skill, with golden strings 
To touch, or sympathetic voice to chime : 
Two winter moons, she rock'd in silent hope. 
Wrapt in her royal robe, the sleeping babe. 
But ere the third was horu'd, clear consciousness. 
With primal dignity of native growth, 
Honour'd the heart of Eire, and brought forth 
That progeny of hope she lately preach'd. 
As thus, the mother to her nurseling spake : 

"Awake, fair morning of the balmy spring! 
Winter hath chill'd my passion : let discourse 
Temper aflfliction with life-bearing breath. 
That like the feast of Mananan, may cheer 



32 THE BOCK OF ARRANMOEE. 

Or scorn depression: let me know the worst; 
The children of the Scythian Iver Scot, 
In Inisfail, no more with honour found, 
Have strangers made their soil a foreign land ?" 
To whom the Dove of Elga feebly moan'd: 

"How calm soft sleep reposes in thine arms, 
Eire ! how comforting to those that weep ! 
for the joys of primal days ! v.'hen first. 
Ere long from earth had pass'd our heavenly sires, 
The Gael made thee their Queen, on love enthroned, 
Unseen but worshipful; fit queen to rule 
A race of heroes; born to hardy deeds 
And melting hearts, for old civility 
And veneration fam'd; and me, this Isle, 
Bless'd of the gods, for thy sweet sake to tend; 
Mountain and streamy dale, the grove and lawn. 
Fruitage and rose, flock, herd and tender hind 
In woodland, and all creatures that delight 
In air or fountain; and wise Fohla join'd 
For music numbers, that could tune the scores 
Of laws and annals, and all bardic strains, 
With eldest wisdom : here our happy lot. 
O'er Elga's bless'd Hesperian fields to reign, 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

Three sisters o'er the noblest race of men, 
Belov'd and reverenced. Hence, in Tir-na-noge, 
Our spouses, highly honour'd for their dames. 
We favour'd as they list, and to and from, 
A blissful passage found; but late estrang'd, 
By earthly sorrow, entrance there debarred, 
In absence long we pine. For now the Gael 
Is banish'd from our sway; the stranger reaps 
The fields we plough'd, our righteous laws revers'd 
And sovereignty extinct : 0, let us hence. 
Mother! unto our own. Mac Alpruin gain'd 
From fate, they say, that ere the world expires, 
]\Iy mountains shall be merg'd with all the Gael, 
In Lir's surrounding fathoms; thus to 'scape 
The penal tribulation of those days : 
Now let us die ; that season is at hand." 
She said, and from th' embrace descending, stands 
On rock, and thus her direful tale pursues : 

"0 Thou; to memory dark; Thou great forlorn! 
In this pale solitude thy mind bestow 
With me, where Tago's Lusian torrent rolls 
'Tween Lisboa's hills and citadel to swell 
Th' Atlantic pool: thence, hither stemming slow, 



»4 THE ROCK OF AERANMORE. 

Behold Iberian keels with pennons spread 

Over the southern sea; more evil fraught 

Than Norse or Fomer fleet that ever sail'd, 

Orkney or Dane with Turgeis, or the hordes 

Of Sitric, to the shores of Inisfail. 

Good Philip's aid they vaunt; but Oh! to him 

And thee, how treacherous prov'd! To Cremna"s Fort, '^^ 

The nether pole of fortune's star, they sail, 

Eemote from Ulad.'s chiefs, by Muma's Gall 

Infested, and their chosen battle ground. 

'Twas there the foreign friend, worse traitor riiu;.], '^'""^ 

Embraced the foreign foe, and wrought thy fa!! : 

Ah ! were thy sons so brother'd on that day, 

They both had vanish'd from thy happy shore ! 

"The Gael betray'd, distraught, the panic fieud 
Their leader choose, and Eire's side forsake. 
'Twas then two eyes that never slept for her 
On Iliad's brow, within their spheres eclips'd, 
See double in the twilight : on that brow, 
Darkness descends from heaven. On Cremna*s walls, 
Her ancient foe entrench her 'round about, 
And aim to spear that goddess breast; she falls: 
Dispersion goads her sons. Then savage hordes. 



THE BOCK OF ARRANMORE. 35 

Let loose from Caledonia's thistle wilds 
Keplace the children of ISTine-hostage Nial, 
In cot and palace, mountain wealth and plain, 
And lake and running flood, silvery with fish ; 
The birthright of Gadelian Heremon. ^^^^ 

"A meteor lights upon Benburb; (^2) [^ pales 
Their pride to ashes; light from heaven inspires 
With speed, and plagues their Cameronian keels, ' 
To utter conquest and repair of loss; 
But light return'd above, whence, for a space, 
It wander'd, and the world bereft and thee. 
Of Owen Roe, Great Hugh's grand-nephew, slain 
Without a wound, save death's. The glutton fie^.d 
His life consunrd; but ere the grave, his flesh, 
Out of the East a dragon monster rose; 
A sign, unto man's native skies, unknown : 
A star of Hell, no borrow'd glory crown'd 
His disk, ascending on the arch of Heaven. 
At distant view, darkness defin'd his sphere 
Clearer than starlight : on his front, two horns. 
Like turrets, threaten'd; one, thy fearless heart 
To gore in fight, and one thy god to slay. 
O'er earth he soar'd no higher than to shun 



36 THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

The plumes of ancient forest, on the plain, 

Or midway, in the mountain breeze, that wave. 

Star of the depths and darkness; yet his ire 

Flam'd like a burning forest on hillside 

At night, o'er grim Dunloe, by sorcerous witch 

Set on for murderous ends. His dire approach, 

On foot, or low in air, on bat wings flew; 

Which o'er the regions shed eclipse that gloom'd 

The shores and islands : rapine on his right. 

And on his left the word of God was writ. 

Which gave ungodly steps to trample bare 

Thy faded sovereignty. Orghillian walls, <^^^ 

Man'd by the chivalry of ancient worth. 

On Inver Colpa's shore, before him fall; 

And heroes bleed when battle strife is o'er. 

Under the sacrificial knife, to 'suage 

The godhead of his wrath : cold blood sheds blood : 

my paternal gods! Thou Carman next, ^^"^^ 

The feast of old civility and law, 

Bards, knights, and heralds, foreign guests and tral: 

With martial games that won bright woman's pr-ilr^e, 

Where Slang the son of Dela left his name 

Upon the stream, in woman's gore he steeps. 



THE BOCK OF ABBANMORE. 37 

For his sword arm red havoc scattor'd wide, 

Two-edg'd, and by the hair, the other flung 

A bleeding head, reft from a feeble king, 

In whom the helpless Gael vain hope repos'd 

For lands and altars; and where'er it fell, 

Both perish'd at a blow. At his advance. 

Abhorrent to my lifelong constancy. 

And the pure fountain of our ancient blood; 

I feminine, he potent, hideous foul. 

From Tartarus return'd, who brake his chains; 

Though craving death, I shudder'd at the heart 

And fled; but tumult, like pursuing flames, 

That breathe the roar of tempests, at my heels, 

Howl'd Cromwell ! ! Cromwell ! ! Then the curse befell 

Of impious Foel, slain on Seagals hills. 

By the Dark Daughter's son; who, ere his eyes, 

The light of heaven forsook, for thine and thee, 

Malignant, thus forebode : 'their felon sons 

Shall plough no more the soil their fathers reap'd; 

The hills and floods they nam'd shall soon be knovrn 

By other names, and rul'd by other lords; 

The woodland echo, yea, the mountain air 

Shall lose their Gaelic speech it breath'd so long; 



38 THE BOCK OF AREANMOBE. 

And the Green Isle itself, they native call, 
Shall smile, as if it ne'er had known their race.' " 

She ceas'd, and meditation, with a shock, 
Unlike her stately entrance, seiz'd their minds. 
Silence was speechful in their looks that met 
On Eire's brow high seated; Banba's tears 
Sprinkled a face of marble in pale grief; 
But o'er th' invaders' track, the spearman fierce, 
With lance uplift to sea, and his grim beard 
Back o'er his shoulder fac'd, derision sniil'd. 
But Eire, on the land breeze, hears full nigh 
Earth shaking and the thunder peals of war, 
The tramp of steeds in thousands, and the shouts 
Of nations, and the groans of heroes slain. 
And for this tale of woe, her sudden stroke, 
Conceal'd, is comforted. A gentle hand 
She waves, and tearful Banba thus concludes : 

"Then missing thee and Eohla's guiding light, 
I sought the Brughs where sleep the gods of old. 
Our kings and sires : on Tara's mound I watch'd 
And meditated many a winter frost. 
The wisdom of the grave. At Cruachan, 
I mourn'd the bitterness of woe befall'n 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 39 

And joys departed; at Slieve Mish I lay 
On Scota's tomb, the mother of the Gael; 
And call'd to her, who lov'd Gadelas more 
Than Egypt, or her sire, great Pharoah thron'd. 
Telteen and Argied-Ross, my sleepless eyes 
Bedew'd; and every Eath and heather'd Shee 
And monumental Mound of Inisfail, ^^^^ 
Where kings repose: but in their marble halls, 
None heard thy slaughter criers ; none knew my voice ; 
None from inglorious slumber burst the tomb. 
The pass'd was dead : and yet, because of thee. 
Thy fate mysterious and unpierceable. 
Resisting dissolution in the throes 
Of ebbing life, the Mounds once more I sought 
Of Angus Oge and Dagda, eldest sire 
Of deities and kings, by Boand's stream. 

'Twas neath the clouds of night, with not a star 
Or glance of heaven upon me, last I bent 
My knees upon the awful Brugh to weep. (^^) 
Oh, how unlike! how fallen from thy days, 
Fardora's son! whose magnitude of mind, 
In arms and gowns excell'd our Saxon foe ! 
I call'd them. Kindred Sovereigns, Guardian Sires, 



40- THE ROCK OF ABRANMOBE. 

Eecounting all thy dolours since the wound 
On Cremna's walls ; while, suppliant, I implor'd. 
Where I might find thy resting place of sighs ; 
At every close, the burden of my strain: 
*Angus-an-Vrog ! 'tis Banba's voice you hear ! 
God of the blissful wound, whose kisses wing'd, 
To birds of song transform'd, with vernal strains. 
Can turn the world to love ; so may thy harp 
Extort from fate, when Eire's wounds shall heal, 
So may the Sire of gods, her Sire, make knoAvn, 
"Where I may find her in her solitude.' 
Nine years I mourn'd, beseeching thus, nor heard 
Eesponse; till, one black night, the mouth of doom 
Was op'd, and from the faltering oracle, 
Groans of distress o'erwhelm'd me, and my hope 
In depths unfathom'd sunk." Here Banba ceas'd; 
But Eire thus : "Sweet Soul ! our earthly passion 
The oracles hath clos'd, and all access 
Debarr'd ; till purifi'd in peace we find 
Our seats, which penitence ere long regains. 
Let not thy heart be troubl'd. Beauteous Grief ! 
There's One still lives to save, whom, Norse or Gall, 
Or crimes of faithless sons ne'er turn'd from me. 



TEE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 41 

E'en He^ the King of all great gods ye fear, 

Patron or alien, whom the Talkend once, 

A lovely babe in arms to Elga bore* : 

'Novr sorrow brings my heart to His more nigh." 

Then Banba, with the sunlight in her tears : 
"This is the great Jiidean, whom of old. 
Thou, like a second mother, on warm breast. 
Didst feed, to make him a great conqueror, 
And watch and hunger for his countenance. 
Thy sisters are of earth and air; but Him, 
Through thee we know, and worship Him in thee : 
Whom thou hast ne'er forsaken in thy woe : 
But thee forsook; thee, by thy foster son. 
Accords not with the honour of his line." 
Then with consoling looks, the queen rejoins : 

"Go forth, Thou offspring of the early gods ! 
Forsake thy father's house, and like a bride, 
Cleave to His side in everv land for grace 
And counsel, in this discipline of pain : 
But chief, the fane of Dune, Avhere, in one tomb, 
Mac Alpruin's with Columba's bones repose, 
And Bridget's, angel of the virgin choirs !" 

She spake, and Banba, with obedience meek, 

*Tho snaTen Christian Monks. 



42 THE ROCK OF ABRANMORD. 

And as a spouse, unto the Christ repairs, 
In Eire's patient faith and virtue rob'd. 
Then o'er the cope of night, were chariots wing'd 
With flame; and burning hosts eclipse the stars, 
Outward, or soaring toward the threshold arch. 
The gate of heaven. At Eire's proven faith, 
New canticles were heard; and in the midst, 
Saint George, the Cappadocian Youth, whose cross 
On Albion's banner blaz'd, thus counsell'd grave : 
"Ye purple rob'd that bear victorious palms, 
Imperial Crowns! Ye Spirits for wisdom thron'd. 
That arbitrate in heaven, the world beneath ! 
To whom of old, wise Albion's maids repair'd. 
Their lamps to fill, and vows renew of hearts. 
Since alien found ! hither, our court we hold. 
Or Eire's wrongs or Albion's right approve ; 
Whose end foreseen foredooms the pending strife 
On yonder Yellow Ford. Behold God's hand, 
How heavy on the fratricidal Gael: 
How tribal feud still swells th' invader's host; 
Unchasten'd still, and hard in brother's hate. 
But for the guilt, why innocence condemn. 
Or for the worse, why slay the nobler part ? 



TEE BOCK OF ARRANMORE. 43 

For whoso of the angels gazeth on 

This vision of penal woe, nor contemplates 

God's loss in Eire's fall? our sister fram'd 

Gigantic in the martyrdom of faith; 

Now destin'd long on earth, the yoke to bear 

And slander of his foes, our clients once, 

Whose equal malice waits the reckoning day; 

So were their retribution equal found. 

As mild, with holy stripes, that meekly borne. 

Stern Justice hides His head to weep : but pray ye. 

The Mercy seat : no length or weight of woe, 

Her pillar'd faith may shatter ; nor the wrongs, 

Bad men inflict, her vasty spirit bend." 

He spake, and all th' Immortals lift their voice, 
Join'd in a pleading of great fervency, 
And temper'd to the lowly heart that stoops 
The Godhead to the knees of human pain. 
These in the golden, whom the Emerald star 
Answer in concord, with mysterious wreaths 
Of new-created harmonies, involv'd 
At distance, and the pensive chime sustain. 



Notes. 



1. Then guardian rivers: "Tlie waves were the Tonn 
Tuaithe : Mouth of the Bann, Tonn Clidna : Glandore, Co. 
Cork, Tonn Eury: Bay of Dundrum, Co. Down. Conaill 
Carna was at Dun Sovarchy, and he heard the Tonn Tuai- 
the. 'Trul}^/ said Conaill, 'Concobar is in peril, and it is 
not meet that I should remain listening.' When Conn of 
the Hundred Fights was in similar jeopardy, the sea 
roared at these points." Standish O'Grady. Hist., Vol. 2, 
p. 198. Note. 

2. There stood an isle : "This barony consists of a group 
of islands called the South Arran Isles, situated in the 
centre of the mouth of the Galway bay, stretching south- 
east and north-west, and comprising Arranmore or the 
Great Arran to the west. They were supposed to be the 
remains of a high barrier of land separated at some remote 
period by the violence of the sea ; and from evident appear- 
ances of their having been anciently overspread with wood, 
their retired situation, and existence of druidical remains, 
to have been appropriated to the celebration of the religious 
rites of the early Irish, prior to the introduction of Chris- 
tianity. The Firbolg tribes had possession of these islands 
at a very early period. Their appearance, on approaching, 
is awfully impressive ; the dark cliffs opposing to the billows 
that roll impetuously against them a perpendicular barrier, 
several hundred feet high, or rugged masses shelving 
abruptly towards the base, and perforated with various 

44 



NOTES: SCENE L 45 

winding cavities worn by the violence of the waves. Arran- 
niore, or the Great Island, which is the most northern of 
the three, is about eleven miles in length, and about one 
and three-quarter miles at its greatest breadth. Hares 
and rabbits abound in these islands, which are also fre- 
quented by plovers, gannets, pigeons, ducks, and other wild 
fowl; and the cliffs are the resort of numerous puffins, 
which are taken for the sake of their feathers by crag-men, 
who descend the cliifs at night by means of a rope fastened 
around the body, and are lowered by four or five of their 
companions. 

"There are still some very interesting remains not only of 
druidical antiquity, but also of the ancient churches and 
monasteries. 

"The most remarkable of the primitive fortifications is 
the Dun Angus, situated on the summit of a great precipice 
overhanging the sea; it consists of three enclosures, the 
largest of which is encircled by a rampart of large stones 
standing on end; and there are one of similar size and 
others smaller. From the excluded situation of these isl- 
ands, the language, manners, customs and dress of the 
natives are peculiarly primitive; instances of longevity 
are remarkable." Topograph. Dictionary of Ire., S. Lewis, 
Vol. 1, p. 78. 

3. Blahma: "The Slieve Bloom mountains. One oi 
them, Ard-Erin, i.e., the heights of Eire, was sacred to 
Eire the goddess, from whom Ireland has taken the name 
of Erin."* O'Grady. Vol. 2, p. 217. 

"The hill of Wisna in the west sacred to Fohla." Ibid., 
Vol. 1, p. 6Q; see The Book of Eights, pp. 6 and 7. 

"Wisna, now Usnagh hill, in the parish of Kildare, West- 
meath, where, according to Keating, the first sacred fire 
was kindled in Ireland by an arch Druid." Publications 
of Ossianic Soc, p. 135, Vol. VI. 



46 NOTES: SCENE I. 

4. Mac Manar: "Mac Manar and his harp shedding 
death from its stricken wires." P. 57. 

"I alone have heard Mac Manar, and to me alone has 
the warning come." P. 323. 

"No other omens are needed now; I have heard Mac 
Manar, and Rod, too, I shall see in his own time." 330, 
Vol. 2. Standish O'Grady, Hist. Ire. 

5. Forest levelling scythe : "This was the Fraygarta, the 
sword of Mananan, with which Lu had destroyed the 
Fomorians." O'Grady. Vol. 2, p. 279 n. 

6. With Mananan: "With those who had partaken of 
the feast of Goibneen, and whom, therefore, weapons could 
not slay, who had eaten at the table of Mananan, and 
would never grow old." Ibid., p. 57. 

7. In Pintia's fane: "O'Donnell, stung to madness by 
defeat, indignant at the conduct of this most ill-judged 
enterprise, and impatient of King Philip's dilatory coun- 
cils and petty expeditions, gave the command of his clan 
to his brother Eoderick; and three days after the battle 
flung himself into a Spanish ship at Castlehaven and, at- 
tended by Redmond Burke, Hugh Mostian, and seven other 
Irish gentlemen, set sail for Spain. He disembarked at 
Corunna, was received with distinction by the Marquis of 
Caracena and other nobles, 'who evermore gave O'Donnell 
the right hand; Avhich, within his government,' says 
Carew, Tie would not have done to the greatest duke in 
Spaine.' The king received him affectionately, treated him 
with high consideration, and actually gave orders for a 
powerful force to be drawn together at Corunna, for an- 
other descent upon Ireland. 

"But that armament never sailed, and O'Donnell never 



NOTES: SCENE I. 47 

saw Ireland more ; for news arrived in Spain, a few months 
after, that Dun-bui castle, the last stronghold in Munster 
that held out for King Philip, was taken; and Beare- 
haven, the last harbour in the south that was open to his 
ships, effectually guarded by the English ; and the Spanish 
preparations were countermanded; and Eed Hugh was 
once more on his journey to the court, to renew his almost 
hopeless suit; and had arrived at Simancas, two leagues 
from Valladolid, when he suddenly fell sick; his gallant 
heart was broken, and he died there, on the 10th of Sep- 
tember, 1G03. He was buried by order of the king with 
royal honours, as befitted a prince of the Kinel-Conal and 
the Chapter of the Cathedral of St. Francis in the stately 
city of Valladolid, Pintia, holds the bones of as noble a 
chief and as stout a warrior as ever bore the wand of 
chieftancy, or led a clan to battle." Mitchell, Life Aodh 
O'Neill. 



8. Fardora's son: "That Tyrone had, at that period, 
really intended to excite an insurrection, has never been 
satisfactorily proved. It is, however, certain that he had 
extensive possessions, whose forfeiture must have been 
advantageous to -his enemies, and that he lived under a 
system of espionage, intolerable to a man of his proud and 
daring spirit. The spies of that day, if we may credit the 
sagacious and correct Davis, arrogated to themselves a 
species of prescience which must have been terrible to those 
who were unfortunately placed under their surveillance. 
Be that as it may, O'Neill and his friend, Eory O'Donel, 
fied to the continent in the year 1607, and abandoned their 
lands and hereditary honours to the crown. Tyrone re- 
mained a short time in Normandy, from whence he passed 
into Flanders and afterwards to Rome, where he was sup- 
ported by the Pope (Paul the fifth). Old, blind and worn 
down by misfortune, he died in the year 1616. Some years 
afterwards his son was found strangled iu his bed, at 



48 NOTES: SCENE I. 

Brussels, and thus ended the race of this active chieftain." 
Stuart's Armagh, p. 306. 

"It was at Eome he died, and the Holy Father ordered 
him a public funeral; directing arrangements to be forth- 
with made for celebrating his obsequies on a scale of 
grandeur such as is accorded only to royal princes and 
kings. 

"On the hill of the Janiculum, in the Franciscan church 
of San Pietro di Montorio, they laid the Prince of Ulster 
in the grave which, a few years before, had been opened 
for his son, beside the last resting place of the Tyrconnell 
chiefs." A. M. Sullivan, Hist. Ire., p. 331; see also Eev. 
C. P. Meehan, The Fate and Fortunes of the Earls of 
Tyrone and Tirconnel. 

9. Kermon : "Cearmna, the twenty-eighth king of Ire- 
land of the Milesian line, who kept his court at Dun 
Cearmna, on the Old Head of Kinsale in the southern 
extremity of Munster, afterv/ards called Dun Mhic Pad- 
rig, in the territories of the Courcies." Oss. Soc. Vol. V., 
p. 141. 

Their chosen battle ground: vide Stafford, Pacata Hi- 
bernia, ch. XXI. 

O'Sullivan Bear. Tomus Tertius. Cap. IX. 

"If the aides were sent for Ulster, then Tyrone required 
but four or five thousand men, if the King did purpose to 
send an Army into Mounster, then hee should send strong- 
ly; because neither Tyrone or O'Donnell could come to 
help them." Stafford. Pacata Hibernia. Lib. 2, ch. XXV. 

10. The foreign friend: "A Letter from the Duke of 
Lerma, to Don luan de Aguila, Master of the Camp, Gen- 
erall of the men of Warre in Ireland." 



NOTES: SCENE I. 49 

"As touching the men and other things which you de- 
maund there is dispatched a good quantitie, and more is 
in preparing, and make you no doubt, but still more shall 
bee in sending, as much as may bee : for his Majestic hath 
it before his eyes, and I have taken in hand the solliciting 
thereof ; wherefore you mav bee assured, that you shall not 
want anything which may bee sent that is needf ull : There 
is now in readiness 150 Launces, which shall be presently 
embarqued, and more men are levying with expedition, 
with whom money shall be sent/^ 

"A Letter from the King of Spaine to Don luan de 
Aguila. 'I have understood of the defeat of the Earles, 
Oneale and Odonnell, and likewise I now see that all your 
hopes remain in your valour and wisedom ; wherein I have 
such confidence, that I hope in the middest of so many 
dangers and labours (wherewith you are environed) that 
you will preserve the army, untill more succours of ship- 
ping, men, armes, and munitions be sent unto you, which 
are with all possible expedition in preparing, and shall 
bee speedy ly dispatched .... I do not advise you of any par- 
ticulars, because I assure myself of your judgment and 
experience, that knows how to make your advantage on such 
occasions, as the enemy shall give for the benefit of the 
siege.' " Pacata Hiberuia, ch. XXVI. 

"Don Juan de Aquilas sailed with the remainder of his 
forces from Ivinsale for Spain, on the 16th of March 
(1601) with a fair wind. On arriving at Corunna, being 
suspected of having acted dishonourably in Ireland, he was 
arrested by order of the king, and confined to his own 
house, where he soon afterwards died of grief. 

"The suspicions formed against Don Juan were founded 
on the facility with which he surrendered to the English 
Kinsale, and the other towns in which the Spaniards were ; 
also on the friendliness of a correspondence which he kept 
up with the deputy and Carew, and the reciprocal presents 



50 NOTES: SCENE I. 

that was made between them, and finally, upon his havin;-^ 
furnished passports to the English, who went from Irelar 1 
to bpain under pretence of trading, but who in reality 
were spies that brought home an account of all that wjs 
passing in Spain, relative to the affairs of Ireland." 

The Abbe Mac Goeghegan, Hist. Ire., end of ch. XLVIII. 

O'Sullivan Bear, Historise Catholicse Iberniae Compen- 
dium, Tomi. III. Liber VI., Cap. IX. 

Cox, Hibernia Anglicana, p. 442. 

11. The birthright of Cadelian Heremon: "Instantly 
commissioners were dispatched to the North to deal with 
'traitors,' and take account of lands which were to escheat 
to the crown. The two Earls, with other chieftains, were 
duly attainted by process of outlawry ; their lands and titles 
were declared forfeit; and the Plantation of Ulster com- 
menced. 

"The six counties of Donegal, Tyrone, Derry, Ferma- 
nagh, Cavan and Armagh, a tract of country containing five 
hundred thousand acres, was seized upon by the King, and 
parcelled out in lots to undertakers." Mitchell. Life of 
Hugh O'Neill, 241. 

"The guilds, or trade companies of London, got a vast 
share of plunder; something like one hundred and ten 
thousand acres of the richest lands of the O'Neills and 
O'Donnells: lands which the said London companies hold 
to this day. To encourage and maintain these 'plantations,' 
various privileges were conferred upon or offered to the 
'colonists,' the conditions required of them, on the other 
hand, being simply to exclude or kill off the owners, to 
hunt down the native population as they would any other 
wild game ; and above all, to banish and keep out Popery. 
In fine, they and their 'heirs, executors, administrators, 



NOTES: SCENE I. 51 

and assigns/ were to garrison the country; to consider 
themselves a standing army of population in the English 
Protestant interest." A. M. Sullivan, Hist., p. 341. 

13. Benburb. "The whole of the Scotch artillery, arms, 
tents, baggage and thirty-two stands of colours were taken. 
The booty v/as immense; it consisted of fifteen hundred 
draught horses, and provisions of every kind for two 
months. General Monroe saved himself with difficulty on 
horseback, and fled without either hat or wig. After this 
defeat he burned Dundrum, and abandoned Portdovvn, 
Clare, Galway, Downpatrick, and other strong places. Tlie 
consternation of his army was so great that numbers lied 
to Scotland for safety. 

"This victory gained by Owen Eoe O'Neill seemed to por- 
tend the complete conquest of Ulster." Mac Goeghegan, 
ch. LI. 

"Owen Eoe O'lSTeill was struck down by death early in 
the struggle, and by the common testimony of friend and 
foe, in him the Irish lost the only military leader capable 
of coping with Cromwell. .. .He died Gih of IXovomber, 
1649, at Cloughoughter Castle, Cavan, county Cavan, on 
his way southward to effect a junction with Ormond for 
a campaign against Cromwell. He was buried in the Fran- 
ciscan convent in the town of Cavan." A. "M. Sullivan, 
Hist, p. 382. 

13. Orghillian walls : "Cromwell having landed in Dub- 
lin, marched straight to besiege Drogheda, of which Sir 
Arthur Ashton was the commander, A summons to sur- 
render the town being rejected, Cromwell ordered a breach 
to be attempted and a general assault made. He was, how- 
ever, twice repulsed with heavy loss; a third attack suc- 
ceeded, and the city was taken on the 10th of Lieptember. 
laders issued to give no quarter, the garrison was accord- 



^^ NOTES: SCENE L 

ingly put to the sword, Ashton the commander, Sir Ed- 
mond Varney, Colonels Wale, Warren, Dunne, Tempest, 
Finglass, and several other officers of distinction, besides 
three thousand soldiers, were slain." Mac Goeghegan, ch. 
LI.; see Cox, Hist. Ire., Eeign Charles II., p. 8. 

14. Carman (Wexforde) : "Every step of Cromwell was 
marked by the most savage ferocity ; two hundred ladies of 
Wexford, who sought with tears, and upon their knees, to 
propitiate the tyrant's rage, were massacred at the foot of 
the cross in the public square." Mac Goeghegan, ch. LI. 

"The Ancient Fair of Carmen. 'Listen, Lagenians 
of the monuments, ye truth-upholding hosts, until you get 
from me, from every source, the pleasant history of far- 
famed Carman. Carman, the field of a splendid fair, with 
a widespread unobstructed green, the hosts who came to 
celebrate it, on it they contested their noble races. The 
renowned field is the cemetery of kings, the dearly loved of 
noble grades; there are many meeting mounds, for their 
ever loved ancestral hosts. To mourn for queens and for 
kings, to denounce aggression and tyranny, often were the 
fair hosts in autumn upon the smooth brow of old Carman. 

"Steeds, swords, beautiful chariots, spears, shields, hu- 
man faces, dew, fruits, blossoms, and foliage, day and night, 
a heavy flooded shore. These in fullness all were there, 
the tribes of Banba without lastin ; grief, to be under the 
protection of the fair, every third year without prohibition. 
... On the Kalends of August without fail, they repaired 
thither every third year, there aloud with boldness they 
proclaimed the rights of every law and the restraints. 

"These are its many great privileges : Trumpets, Cruits, 
wide-mouthed horns, Cuisig, Timpanists without weariness, 
Poets and petty rhymesters ; Fenian tales of Fin, — and un- 
tiring entertainment, — Destructions, Cattle-preys, Court- 
ships, Inscribed tablets, and books of trees ; satires, ogham 



NOTES: SCENE I. 53 

and sharp edged runes; proverbs, maxims, royal precepts, 
and the truthful instruction of Fithal, occult poetry, topo- 
grafical etymologies, the precepts of Cairpri and of Cormac ; 
the Feasts, with the great Feast of Teamar; Fairs, with 
the Fair of Emania, Annals there are verified, every divi- 
sion into which Erin was divided. The history of the house- 
hold of Teamar — not insignificant. The knowledge of 
every territory in Erin, the history of the women of illus- 
trious families, of courts, prohibitions, conquests. . . .Three 
markets in that auspicious country: a market of food, a 
market of live stock, and the great market of the foreign 
Greeks, where gold and noble clothes were wont to be. 

''The professors of every art, both the noble arts and 
the base arts, and non-professionals were there selling and 
exhibiting their compositions and their professional works 
to kings ; and rewards were given to every work of art that 
was just or lawful to be sold, or exhibited, or listened to. 
. . .It was five hundred and eighty years from the holding 
of the first fair in Carman, to the forty-second year of the 
reign of Octavius Augustus, in which Christ was born." 
Translated from the Book of Leinster and Book of Bally- 
mote. O'Curry's Manners and Customs. Vol. III. Ap- 
pendix, p. 523. 

15. Monumental mounds: ''The seven chief cemeteries 
of Erin, namely, Tailtin, Cruachan, the Brugh of the 
Boyne, Carman, Cuile, Tellacht, and Teamar of Dun Finn- 
tain." O'Curry's M. C, p. 334. 

16. My knees upon the awful Brugh: "On the banks of 
the Boyne, opposite Eosnaree, there stands a tumulus, said 
to be the greatest in Europe. It covers acres of ground, 
being of proportionate height. The earth is confined by 
a compact stone wall about twelve feet high. The central 
chamber, made of huge irregular pebbles, is about twenty 
feet from ground to roof, communicating with the outer 



Si NOTES: SCENE L 

air by a iiagged passage. Immense pebbles, drawn from 
the county of Antrim, stand around it, each of which, even 
to move at all, would require the labour of many men, as- 
sisted with mechanical appliances. It is, of course, im- 
possible to make an accurate estimate of the expenditure of 
labour necessary for the construction of such a work, but 
it would seem to me to require thousands of men working 
for years. 

"From reason and probability, we would with some cer- 
tainty conclude that the great tumulus of New Grange was 
the temple of some Irish god; but that it was so, we know 
as a fact. The father and king of the gods (Dagda) is 
alluded to as dwelling there, going out from thence, and 
returning again, and there holding his invisible court. 
Here also dwelt Angus Og, the son of the Dasda. In this, 
his spiritual court or temple, he is represented as having 
entertained Oscar and the Ossianic heroes, and thither he 
conducted the spirit of Diarmid,'that he mi2;ht have him 
for ever.'' O'Grady, Hist. Ire., Vol. 2, p. 79-83. 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 55 



Scene II. 

Fohla meets Eire on the rock. Relates the perjured treaty 
of Lumneach and the departure of the Gaelic chieftains with 
Sarsfield in the service of the Gaulish king. Scene of the for- 
saken women. Fohla's lamsnt. The Tribemonster's impre- 
cation on the Saxon and his repentance for all the evil he 
had caused. Eire sends Fohla to bring tidings of her sons in 
the wars abroad. MacAlpruin addresses the saints in judg- 
ment. 

^Lone on the ruins of departed gods. 
Earth's finite deities, with mind as vast, 
Another age above the desert sea, 
And ever gazing on confiding stars, 
And the wise Providence that rules the world. 
Queen Eire sate; careless of waves that work 
Their own ends, or the moon's vicissitudes : 
While Fohla, now her wandering quest at end 
For Eire lost, more sad for Eire found, 
Hung silent, as a visage in a cloud, 
Driv'n o'er the windy blue of heaven, that heaves 
The sea in tempest, piteously looks down 



56 THE ROCK OF ARE AN MORE. 

On the vast tribulation, and in air 

Is melted : so the tender Fohla stares 

And pines in wonder; while beyond the main, 

The queen of sorrow her large eyes uplifts; 

Abandonment and hope her soul contesting, 

Which holds endurance, resignation's fort. 

Thus Fohla mus'd, and Eire sigh'd, nor 3'et 

With words relieved their pain; the wanderer mute. 

Fearful, lest evil freight too safe she land, 

Which better wreck'd had been : till pondering long 

What faith great Eire in her god repos'd. 

With resolution of the just, she dares, 

As oft the trusty ministers of kings 

Tempt with adversity the mighty soul ; 

AVhich, patient borne, may move the Power divine 

To mitigate, or bind the tyrant foe. 

In virtue of her fearless constancy. 

Thus from her hidden watch between the winds, 

Fohla comes forth slow pacing; by her side 

A sword of flame, as peers the sun at noon 

To less than eagle's eyes, hung by a robe 

AVhite and untouch'd by any tinsel dross; 

As though the rock-foam of Tork's fountain flow'd 



THE ROCK OF ABEANMORE. 57 

Around about her, seeking Lena's shore, 

Or Lirs nude billows neath an opening cloud, 

When to the gale, they lift their breasts at play; 

But fairer still, her bosom bares to view 

The whiteness of her spirt, surpassing far 

Earth's emblems of rare pureness, cloth'd in light. 

In her right hand an oaken slab she bore, 

In Ogham ^•'•^ grav'd with tables of the law 

And rhymes antique that schooFd a world gone by; 

And on her sacred head, an olive crown 

Which from Espan, of old, the peaceful Ith ^-'> 

To Yoha and his house De-da-naan brought. 

But of that peace, which in the Brehon days, 

Her justice meek dispens'd, when sword of state 

Was but an emblem in that silver age, 

Her cheer now tastes not, with adversity 

Consorting ill, and Eire's wounds unbound. 

Slow from behind, her sombre steps advance; 

l\ot as of yore, on harvest plains, mid dews 

Of day spring, ere the reaper or the lark 

Had chanted, she with Eire, harp'd and sung; 

Nor with the sudden glare of zeal untoward, 

Insulting godlike agony ; but meek, 



58 TEE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

Apart she opes the colloquy of tears; 

"Thou mother of Gadelas' ancient race, 
Adopted once, now more than genital 
In thy maternal wounds, while orphans' eyes 
Read in thy looks the winter of their doom, 
Or vernal hope restor'd ! Bend o'er me at least I 
That I devoutly kiss these bleeding scars: 
Oh ! that my life-long love could aught impart 
Of healing balm to staunch the breast that sheds 
The heart's blood of the brave !" Soft from behind. 
These accents and the lucent front approach'd. 
But Eire, turning her afiSicted brow, 
Rose and advanc'd, as on her darkest hour 
Wisdom and light had dawn'd. A greeting smile 
Half sunn'd her shaded soul, and her dark locks 
Descended thick on Fohla's lustrous neck 
And her maternal kisses on her lips. 
With love that soften'd grief, despite her pain 
And the world's bitterness; and thus she spake: 

"0 Fohla! Sister of my reign! my strength. 
In ruling of the beauteous isle we watch'd 
From Blahma's height, with Banba by our side, 
Ages of youth and joy ! Now give mine ear 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 59 

Once more, that radiant spirit which inspired 

Peoples and kings, and bardic souls divine. 

When hearts were temples, which no impious hands 

Could rifle or dismantle. Are thy hopes 

Firm as thy love, fair as thy countenance. 

Sweet Sister of the sunny breast and brow?" 

To whom, thus wisdom's image, slow of speech 

To raise or damp expectancy, repli'd: 

"Thou dear to Hope ! weary of wandering long. 

Though finding thee, no strength of heart I bear; 

Save from thy heart, what solace I receive. 

And life inhale." Then the great mother rais'd 

Her penetrable breast, and bent large eyes 

Compassionate, and words heroic pour'd: 

"Bright Bard of truth ! the grief that quench'd thy song. 

More fell than that, and deadlier must have struck. 

Which Banba's timid soul whilom had pierc'd 

At Cromwell's impious hand. Thy tale recount : 

Such woes my ear now covets, but its gate 

Shall herse their cerements ; for longer liv'd 

With entrance found, shading the light of hope. 

Their fate debars. Speak from that breast of truth ; 

And speak the worst !" She said, and backward turn'd, 



60 THE ROCK OF ABRANMORE. 

Dun Angus' hideous brow they reascend; 
Bare to the howling rigours of the main. 
Her seat of desolation: there replae'd, 
Sate Fohla by her side and thus began : 

"LoVd Eire ! may thy god with pity hear : 
When that last night I miss'd thee, and pursu'd 
Were all thy lov'd ones and thy mighty men, 
I sought thee through the world, and many an age. 
Lone wander'd; till one midday in the air 
On Himalayan heights, ^^^ from thence to reach 
The cradle of my race, there lay me down 
And be the last, thy mournful voice I heard. 
And knew 'twas thine. It came o'er land and sea, 
As though to all the ages it had cri'd, 
Both passed and coming, in its wide appeal : 
It reach'd earth's center and the throne of God; 
It wak'd the silent tenants of the tomb; 
It made the gluttonous monsters of the main 
With frighted eyes deliver up their prey. 
And Locklan heroes shrink from foeman's skulls, 
To taste the blood draught in Valhalla's hdll." 
She spake; but Eire, interposing bland: 
"I cri'd, and felt that prophecy went forth 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 61 

From my strain'd heart's appeal ; and in that heart 
Wert thou and Banba with th' afflicted Gael, 
Slaughter and exile; but thou spir't of truth! 
Recount the anguish of thy burdon'd soul; 
My people's thraldom 'neath the foreign yoke, 
Their warfare and their doom'd adversity. 
For I have felt the blows unseen, and bled 
An age and half an age, which by the moons, 
I reckon'd since the Dragon fiend, unloos'd, 
Ravag'd my empire." Thus the queen, unmov'd 
To outward seeming, lur'd close wisdom's tongue, 
More bold to treat with wounded majesty: 

"I am thy spirit, Eire ! half, not all : 
So by my weak side judging thee, I deem'd 
Thy fated days fulfill'd, when time had fetched 
Calamity with lightning fire to char 
Thy oaken virtue, or with drought to blight 
The constant and the prime ; nor brook'd my heart 
To make thy dole worse pain; but now I feel 
Thy god within me speak, and I recount 
The tale of later days since Cromwell's rage 
The tomb ingulf'd." Here love's unweeting truth 
May purge endurance more than mortal mould 



60 THE BOCK OF ARRANMORE. 

Inherits, which outspoken, thus relates : 

"Eire! thy tyrants perish; and Thou livest. 
Most strangely, not to triumph o'er their fall, 
But store thy sorrows. First, that monster power. 
Which slew the feeble king, foretasted death. 
Not by man's hand, too harden'd for its stroke; 
But through the open gate, his spirit flew. 
But the king's son restor'd, no regent mind 
Order'd his being; nay, the lower life. 
In purple robes, he led ; and gratitude, 
None was to sweeten his base blood, or lift 
His coward sceptre; but the lustful flesh 
Hard-hearted sway'd: and hence the royal hand 
Favour'd the foe he fear'd and cool'd the friend; 
And thus thy claims dishonour'd. He is pass'd. 
And of his sire, a second son more mild, 
Eemits the rage of conquest: without tears. 
Bread tasted not so bitter, life so stale; 
And for a season, holy fanes were fill'd. 
And hearth and glebe restor'd : delusion dire ! 
For on the stubble stalk was propp'd his throne, 
A reed his sceptre, and his palsi'd hand. 
As unanojnted as the dragon's claw 



THE BOCK OF AREANMORE. 63 

That late embowerd thy realm ; not by ill will, 
But imbecile and proud. And thus he reign'd 
Meanest of Kings and wrought upon thy chiefs 
T' espouse his brittle claim. But Netherland 
A champion sent, who seiz'd his diadem 
And triple glory quench'd, what time his lot 
On Boand's banks was cast ; though troop'd the knights 
Of Gallia's king '■^'> around him, and the host 
Of thy Gadelean arms with Saxon join'd. 
For Heaven's long-sighted justice there pursu'd 
The offspring of that Stuart king, who led 
The heathen rout from Alba; they preferred 
Green foreign fields to native wilds, and seiz'd 
The birthright of Gadelean Heremon; 
Who now before their king, new lords prefer 
In battle, and new sovereign sway proclaim. 
"I saw both hosts confronted on the plain; 
Riches and valour in their camps, the strength 
Of many realms, on Boand's banks array'd 
To battle for the crown the Tudor wore. 
'Twas in that season when the Lion vents 
His rage, and early by a lunar month, 
Ere Virgo leads the harvest moons, and rulea 



64 THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

Tlie sheaf and sickle, on a cloudless morn, 

Their snowy tents I saw; their herds and flocks, 

And myriad steeds that chew'd the strengthening corn 

Of thy Orghillian fields. A mounted king, 

On either side the stream, a host commands. 

Out of their eyes came fear, and from their mouths, 

Authority that goads the files of war 

With duty's zeal; unlike thy tribal hosts, 

Loose-leagued in wilful scorn of warlike lore; 

Warmer in love, but lax in constancy. 

Who turn to slay thee when thy weari'd powers 

Eecline, or envy's lack of brother's love 

Distempers their allegiance. But they serve 

Their foreign lord too well on Boand's stream; 

Yea ! on his brow had kept the diadem ; 

Could victory e'er court a foolish king, 

Or wisdom bide with arrogance. But Oh ! 

Thou wert not with them, Eire I Battle now 

Strides onward, and in motion spread, I saw 

The foreign chivalry and starry wings; 

And heard the chiding captains call aloud, 

Wheeling the legions, when the trumpet's tongue 

Wrinkles the lowering visage of grim war. 



I 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 65 

I saw their bounding chariots' fiery speed 

Glance in the sky, and steeds, like cloudy necks. 

That shake their manes in tempests, when the flash 

Displays the riders dark and terrible, 

Uplifting brand with horrid kingly plumes 

Of victory; soon veil'd in thunder cloud; 

To which the shouts of war seem hushed and shy^ 

Letting the pealing of th' affrighted depths 

Alone proclaim the onset. Then thy heart 

Had beat thy breast, though mighty, for thy son-/, 

The swift careering mounted knights to view, 

Along the raging river; mail and shield 

Discarded in the flash of thunderous fires. 

The arms of gods they fought with; either host 

Intent to cross where ford or shallow drift 

To onset leads : or on one field to see 

Such pomp of vari'd hosts, in arms and looks. 

So foreign fierce against the native Gael; 

From Bann and Mourne, (0 ye once faithful streams!) 

From Thame and Humber, and the banks that flower 

Nether the ocean's brim. But sight of all, 

The most abhorr'd; to see the King they serv'd 

(As his grandsire, his mother queen forsook)] 



66 TEE ROCK OF AREANMORE. 

Desert thy faithful sons, had mov'd to spurn 
The dastard son, and change of sides declare; 
If wrongs could ever steel, or fickle faith 
Inhabit thy grand soul. But in retreat, 
Scarce yield the Clanna Gael; whose deeds in arms 
Had not conflicting fate their cause repell'd, 
' Display 'd the native hero of the heart, 
To paint the image of recorded time, 
And reinstate the substance of its worth. 
From which my thought inferr'd, that angry fate, 
AVith gleam of hope, in penitence long tri'd, 
Tempers their punishment for wonderous end, 
As Banba in the stars, mysterious read. 
For in their midst a chief paternal rose, 
Mann'd with the spirit of Fardora's son; 
Sarsfield, who in the Dalgais city planted 
His gather'd strength, and from the solid towers 
Eepuls'd the Netherland : but fate would rule, 
Xot by San Ruth, thy Gaulish captain slain 
At Aughrim, with whose fall starr'd victory 
Dropp'd from his banner's wings and left thy sons 
Landless and bare; no, no! 'twas Saxon guile, 
Their oldest, deadliest weapon, that could force 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 67 

Lumneach's strong towers on Shannon's banks, that bluff'd 

The fiery siege, to yield to perjur'd writ 

And terms of peace forsworn: defeat the lot 

And penalty of faith; remorse and shame, 

Exile or serfdom for thy kingly sons; 

Conquer'd by less than slaves, with falsehood arm'd. 

Whom swords had made thy suppliants." ^^^ Here her 

voice, 
Chok'd with the horrors of a stricken race, 
Ceas'd and the nation's mother felt a shock; 
Such as Queen Nature, in her universe, 
ilay fright, when by eclypse with earthquake join'd, 
Push'd from her seat, she doubts her powers to right 
The balance of her reign; or discord fears 
In fire, or flood, or tempest. Shuddering seiz'd 
Her goddess limbs; her martial bosom sunk; 
The tears of ages fall from eyes o'erwatch'd 
And furrow'd cheeks, as on deserted land. 
The winter's rain ; (her beauty ne'er impair'd. 
For that was of the soul) and in her breast, 
Such pangs as rend the mountains had dissolv'd 
Her rainbow crown and starr}^ robe, and given 
To worms; had not th' Almighty set his hand 



68 TEE ROCK OF ARRANMOBE. 

'Gainst woe's prediction and the doom of wrong. 
And interpos'd for wise futurity. 
But the Tribemonster's dolour, unrestrain'd, 
Passion'd with conscious guilt, thus vents its flame: 

"0 Eire ! what taskmasters hath thy God 
Impos'd for penance o'er th' afflicted Gael: 
For surely, so discordant ne'er have sail'd 
In the same bark in life's o'ertroubl'd stream. 
How could thev bide, and lifelong days endure 
The harshness of their born antipathies? 
As heartless frost hates ocean, and doth curb* 
His bosom's joyvjus swell; as winter flays 
The may bloom, or with tyrannous lust would b'.ight 
Her maidenhood; as east wind envies skies 
That summer human joys; as niggard churl 
Detests the hospitable house, and names, 
As riotous and waste, its pleanteousness ; 
As senile palsy chideth vigorous youth; 
As the mouse hunter hates the high born hound 
That scours at bugle call the morning hills : 
So the base Saxon hates the noble Gael. 
Oh 1 how empower'd to shackle and ensnare ! 
In appetite so gross, in soul so foul; 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 69 

So vers'd in carnal cunning, and so cold ; 

Timing our natural steps, till generous trust. 

Of gentle breed from old nobility. 

May twitch the balance in the soul's excess. 

And lapse toward human frailty. Greed the end. 

The ermin'd robber pageants in broad day, 

Unhidden crime, with law's solemnity; 

Our virtues daubs with vice, and vaunts his will. 

Civility's supreme interpreter 

Of heaven's plain dealing, and impartial judge 

In ruling of the world. 'Twas thus of yore. 

In time of truce, with thy confiding chiefs, 

Unarm'd, conferring on a lasting peace 

At Mulla-Mast, he conjur'd from the dark 

His ambush'd churls to slay the peacemakers: <*> 

The mounted mail'd on the defenceless fall; 

The sworded on th' unarm'd : that hill still mourns : 

Hills have long memories : or at the feast 

With hospitable show, when cheer was high, 

Throttl'd the guest, and gave the wintry gibbet, 

Feed on his quarter'd corse. Eire, thy God 

Forsakes thee ! or he sleepeth on the way 

That leadeth to this sorrow-teeming land; 



70 TEE ROCK OF ABRANMOBE. 

Or that Eternal, which befriended thee 

In prosperous days, hath feeble grown with age, 

Or through duration pass'd, that hath interr'd 

A Universe of finite deities. 

Else, how can wrong foretaste the palpable; 

Justice, the visionary?" But the Queen, 

In patience still unmov'd, his rashness chides 

In mild rebuke, though grave: "Son of the spear! 

Meddle not thou with mystery; but keep, 

In zeal without excess, thy guardian watch. 

The spirit on high immortal reigns, whose years 

Grow younger with endurance : by His throne, 

Judgment and Mercy, His prime ministers. 

But Justice none discerneth in God's ire; 

Till mitigating mercy hides the sword. 

Pleading paternal stripes in penitence. 

To punish whom He loves, and drains her font 

Of ruth on their distress." The Tribemonster 

Eejoins, but reverential, muttering low : 

"Thou art the myst'ry that unmystifies 

All else in worlds unknown; for to our view, 

Th' inscrutable in thee, thou living wonder! 

Gives substance to th' unseen. Now lend thine ear: 



TEE BOCK OF ARRANMORE. tl 

Thou fair mountain, pastur'd high and crown'd 
With guardian oaks, that scare the eastern blight 
From new-shorn flocks ! watering the lowland dales. 
That to thy blessing owe their f ruitf ulness ; 

Xow, lest a shudder from earth's central fire 
Thy foot subvert; one arm unnerv'd on high, 
With eyes erect, and one outstretch'd beneath. 
On earth's hard bosom break thy helpless fall ; 

1 pray thee now, petition thy great god. 
With foresight care, to stay thy pedestal. 
And save us all: for e'en in Fohla's brow. 
Though fair, calamity and death I trace." 

He spake unanswer'd; and the fearless queen 
The tender Fohla's labouring doubt dispels: 

"Thou lov'd one ! I command thee, speak and ope 
My wrongs unto the very heart of Heaven; 
For heaven's deep sympathy is soul to soul : 
My grief He knoweth not, if not in me. 
It rendereth my submission; thither raised. 
Lift all the imagery of thy sighs: 
Speak thou for me to heaven." She spake, and straight 
Wise Fohla's lips, to holy obedience bound. 
In painful truth the mournful tale resumes: 



n THE BOCK OF ARRANMORE. 

"First, Sarsfield, in the nation's covenant, 
Yielded the fated towers, in peace to gain 
With honour all that glorious war could hope; 
God's temples free, and hearth and glebe restor'd 
The old inheritor, in peace to dwell 
E'en with the Saxon, on fair Banba's soil : 
Or would thy warrior sons, in foreign clime. 
The Gaulish monarch serve, ^'^^ with spouse and child 
In goodly keels, with ample store, convey'd 
Over the southern sea; the Saxon faith 
To either course was plighted. Hence, the Gael 
In arms, with banners waving, quit the towers, 
The covenant of peace; and few at home 
Bide with the Saxon ; for that mighty host. 
Mindful of foul and grievous perfidies 
From oldest time, cleave to the Gaulish king. 
And in the loss of thee were comforted 
With babe and spouse; which, at the parting hour. 
The Saxon faith forswore, lest many 'scape 
His hateful yoke, and Sarsfield's ear to wound 
With woman's wail, forsaken; keener pangs 
Than later, pierc'd his heart by Landen's stream. 

Lo, the pale throng with nursing paps, that flee 



TEE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 73 

The bloodless famine on the clamorous shore. 
From Heber's plains ! Wives of the brave, lament ! 
Woe, either way ye turn: Ah, how forsake 
The ancient sire and dame, the fatherland 
Of youth and kindred ? Exil'd ever more ! 
Cleave to your spouse, his destin'd land your home ! 
This hour he parts : haste, haste ! high tide is full : 
The anchor'd keels are in the cove, the hulls. 
Over the rock-bound haven of the Lee, 
Black as the hearts within them, cast their shade. 
The long boats on the strand, the swarthy crews 
With Saxon faith forsworn, now captive bear 
Your soldier to the wars of foreign kings, 
Alone, to sleep his last in foreign clay; 
That infancy ere morning gloom may feel 
Its orphanage, and wife, her widowhood. 

"See, see upon the rocky beach, the flight. 
The fall, the bruise, the rage, and the distress 
That pales the hindmost in the strife of speed; 
As though the quaking earth had cri'd aloud, 
'Seek refuge in the deep.' Behold afar 
Mother and babe, how plunge the surf; behold 
The drowning grasp at hands put forth to save; 



74 THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

Hands, in their conflict vrith the armed crew. 

Unarmed, to cast aside th' uplifted oar 

That falls with malediction on the heads 

With foamy locks afloat, and gaping jaws, 

Fac'"d upwards, piteous for the breath of heaven. 

Hark to the wail of womanhood, that calls 

Names, they forever part, with mercy cries 

To thy god's ear, if pity yet he bears; 

Or, as his wont, the widow's curse he pens 

In everlasting annals. Sight abhorr'd ! 

sundered worse than death ! the Gael estranged, 

ISTow flee thy face lov'd Eire ! as thou wert 

Life's dreaded foe. Behold the clapping hands, 

When wild escape repuls'd by ocean's scowl. 

Is forc'd to bide with thee ; the streaming heads, 

Turn'd back despairing. From the baleful shore 

They stare upon the wide-dissevering sea 

And heave their widow sighs. All-bearing Earth! 

Aiid life-reviving Sun ! heard Ye that wail 

Of Eire's desolate daughters, in the prime 

And spreading leaf, and in the virgin bud, 

And the white lili'd love of sisterhood, 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 76 

And spouse, forlorn, without responsive sign. 
Or sympathetic message to console 
Your neighboring universe of human woe ?'* 
Here Fohla's gentle voice, to silence mute 
Deceased, as if such influence invoked 
Had chid her grief; but in the sinking sun 
None was; but coldness from his misty eye, 
Cast on the queen's pale cheek, betray'd her pain, 
Portentous as of death, which coming night 

May fetch. Now Eire on the rugged steep. 

Her robe the starry night with zodiac signs, 

Her arms and breast of Hyperborian snow. 

Backward, in Fohla's soft embrace reclines; 

As though a goddess turn'd to stone, that rul'd 

Long o'er that stormy coast, a sacred sign, 

Propitious to the homeward mariner. 

Wasted by mining frost and chilly watch 

"r.Iid the corroding elements, at last. 

Can sink upon its monument. Her gaze 

The falling sun pursues, while Fohla's eyes 

Sprinkle her frigid brow. But dying day. 

With morn so near, is only as sorrow dies 



76 TEE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

When hope appeareth; so in Eire's breast, 

Hope is the heart of courage, where at home 

Meek Patience first she met and taught to smile. 

Hope is the council chamber of the soul, 

The ecstasy of foretaste and the life 

There pictur'd, as no dream hath e'er conceiv'd. 

Hope is an angel spirit, nam'd on high. 

Benevolence, which Faith had call'd to earth, 

Her needful help, a world of darkling tears 

To dry, or penitential, waft above. 

Like morning dews, softening the eye of heaven. 

But Fohla now, from grief intense awak'd. 

Beholds at deepening eve an instant phase 

Come o'er the Queen's pale lineaments; her glance 

Outlives the dying orb, and her weird hand 

Beacons Hy-Brassail from the crimson sea; 

She speaks triumphant: "Sister, now receive 

The greeting of the mighty ! Lo, they come. 

Give all thy soul its burning white to match 

Th' outpouring of that blaze of heroes' fire: 

Hail them, thou bard divine !" Such hope inspir'd 

By grief-begotten vision, rais'd full height. 

The majesty of woe; in might surpassing 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. Y? 

Morega, or the Amazonian Meve, 
Borne in her chariot on Murthevney's plain, 
When Olnemacta rush'd in arms to meet 
Cuhulland and his Eed Branch chivalry. 
Then thus, her heart elate, its ardour pours : 

"All Hail, my sons in arms ! from foreign lands, 
Unto my bosom sav'd; from this blown peak 
I greet ye; for your tender thoughts of late 
Are on me, and before my startl'd gaze. 
With visitations in my specular dreams, 
Ye come and go. And though your fate unheard 
On this, my silent hermitage, ye know. 
Ye feel my woes, no breadth of seas can hide; 
Which, were ye buri'd, would have burst the tombs 
My servile bonds to break, and o'er your race 
My ancient reign restore." She spake, and strode 
With stature vast upon the beetling alp : 
Brighter her crown, and her Ogygian locks 
More dark and queenly wav'd; her broad, white arms 
Expanded for embrace; her orbs with fire 
Beam'd love and pride upon the airy host 
Beneath her altitude. "0, Fohla ! see 
The ponderous chariots of the foreign king 



rs THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

They fetch, to match the lightning of our foe 
With bolted flames; and hark how fearful roars 
The universe, and trembles at the siege. 
How can the deep uphold them? E'n his waves 
Hide their gray beards; and timid' ocean's face. 
In frightful calm, no angry scowl puts on. 

"Fohla, thou know'st their looks, their equipage. 
Their lineage and their fame; say, who are those 
Unarm'd, but with such power endu'd to spread 
Heaven's rumour o'er the deep, and wield at will 
His chariots thunder-stor'd, the arms of gods 
They fight with? There, the primal chiefs among. 
Point out great Sarsfield, that my soul may feel 
Doth he remind me of Fardora's son. 
My best belov'd; when by the Avonmore 
He yok'd my chariot to the rising morn. 
At noon to glory o'er the Saxon's fall. 
Oh ! what a realm of hosts ! what godlike arms ! 
What hope of sunburst!" Thus her frenzy rul'd. 
As if earth, opening to her will, did yield. 
Out of the rock and the invisible air. 
The semblance of a multitude she knew. 
Peopling her ecstasy. "But they depart : 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 79 

Oh ! whither, whither ? Fohla ! to what shore ? 
If thou hast eall'd them forth, now stay their flight! 
Leave me not worse than widow'd : childless Eire ! 
For I would nurse their babes on my scarr'd breast; 
Suckle them with my sorrows; and mature 
A young, victorious Gael on Banba's plains. 
Speak, Fohla ! Whither are my heroes gone V 
She ceas'd; but the belov'd one, stricken mute, 
\Vatching her heaving motions and her eyes 
At distance set, while to and fro she pac'd 
The rugged eminence, at last, half heard: 

"Blind world of woe ! Thou bitest in my zeal 
To heel thee. Alas! ill-starr'd to heal or soothe! 
That vex'd the rankling venom of a wound 
In probing: leech, in nature's scroll unread, 
Would'st wilder the stray'd mind, uncomforted. 
To diet on the madness of its ills ! 
I should have known her god had faiPd her; known. 
Her rival virtues, how the gods displease. 
Great heaven ! hence have I ruin'd all I priz'd ? 
Or is it of thy deed, and must I live 
In blameless guilt to mourn? 0, willing guilt! 
How lighter in thy punishment condign 



80 THE ROCK OF AREANMOBE. 

Than innocent and evil, its own judge 

And torturer! Enough, now Eire lost, 

Welcome ye Scythian groves that hide the sun! 

Ye night shades of the Himalayan plains. 

The cradle of my race, where late I lay. 

My peace to mingle with my fathers' gods 

In their sepulchral mounds. Ye gods that sleep ! 

Awake, and call me to the peace of dreams: 

Behold, I come." Thus, love lent wisdom tears 

To sorrow, self-accus'd, with wilder plaint 

Than Eire murmur'd in grief's ecstasy. 

Which, when the cause of all their woe, the ag'd. 

Infirm and bruis'd Tribemonster, heard and saw. 

Remorseful of such reverend misery. 

No dream could vision, on the Saxon race. 

The imprecation of his wrath, he pours : 

"Now burst and rain down blood. Ye thunder clouds, 
Startle the caves in the profoundest deep ! 
Revile the skies, ye earthquakes ! that they suffer 
Demons, so adverse to their pulsing fires. 
To freeze earth's visage, that your sulphurous breath 
Were kindly heat unto her quaking frame: 
Lament the moans of virtue, and condole 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. iSl 

With injur'd justice; let not such things be, 
With nature mute as heaven : and 0, Thou Death ! 
Open thy mouth in judgment : hast thou racks, 
So inconceivably with horrors stor'd 
In ihe hereafter, that earth's punishment 
Were immaterial, and man-fiends may pass 
Into the grave without the visible scourge 
Of the world's execration and the sword? 

"No, no ! Thou torturer ! Shew us in the flesh 
Their retribution; and let loose upon them, 
Out of thy open sepulchers, a plague, 
With famine wing'd, implacable to waste 
The cannibals of men. Upon their homes, 
Ye red winds of the Druid hills ! let fall 
Your plagues irreconcilable with rest, 
On those, the bed of tears its rest deny. 
Despoil their pelf; disperse their sons, barefoot; 
The jest of nations, who in winter's frost 
Shall scorn their nakedness, and from the door: 
'Live on your gains, ye money bags! who naught 
But bestial greed have taught the centuries; 
Who for your bellies a whole world would slar.' 
Or to their begging, give them bitter alms; 



83' THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

Offal, to suit their souFs deformity. 

"I can forgive the tongue that stings my pride. 
And blights my fame; the hand that spills my blood; 
Binds me with osiers to the gnarled oak; 
That spits my babes before my eyes, and lays 
My roof in ashes; if a single tear 
Water repentance, sparse but arable; 
Such as a human growth in season bears. 
But the man fiend that slays me every day; 
That threats at morn what tears the night shall bring, 
And e'en at night, the morrow; outrag'd Heaven! 
In whose defiance he plagues me, for his crime, 
Forgiveness hath no part: in future life, 
(If such for him there be) may cruel gods 
Feast on him every day, in their dark hall 
Where he in vain shall call on death to end him; 
And live devour'd, to curse the life he led, 
And the first day that gave it, and the womb-' 
That bore him, and the paps that gave him suck, 
Then should th' accursed creature, in his pangs, 
Mention thy name. Fond Mercy! 0, may then, 
A loathsome ghost extend a hissing spear, 
Tainted with fire, and keen to slit his tongue! 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 83 

Eire! had I known thy God, I might 
Beseemingly obtain their punishment, 
Invoking the right curse/' Then Eire spake, 
From transport of ecstatic grief return'd, 
Collect'd, and her solemn thought confessed: 

"But He would have forgiveness, whom they call 
Of virgin born, and mightiest conqueror: 
E'en he forgives his enemies, and sees 
His image in our lowliness portray'd. 
And in our patience glories. Trust not thou 
The malediction of the broken heart. 
Thy wrongs' avenger; for, be sure, as much 
Is scor'd, so much is bought, to balance fair 
The curser and th' accurs'd: the time may come 
When foes may yet be friends, when bonds we burst. 
And freedom ties the knot with willing hands ; 
For only in freedom's breast true friendsliip dwells." 

Thus spake the Queen, proud in adversity. 
Majestic in the lowly heart of love 
Unmeasur'd by th' illimitable waves. 
But at that word, forgiveness, tears were shed: 
For now, the dire Tribemonster, near his end, 
Clear-sighted of the past, and penitent, 



84 THE ROCK OF ABBANMORE. 

Desiring death, his poniard bare in hand, 

To whom his crimes dethroned, compunctious tum'd 

Infirmities and moans on knees bare-boned : 

"Eire, Thou vision of a purer world 
Than all earth's kingdoms shew !" the old man said : 
"Thou softening eye, that melts for all ! Thou heart, 
Unfathom'd in its tidal sympathies. 
How can they bruise thy grandest womanhood ? 
How pierce that mother's breast that never sin'd ? 
For me that wrong'd thee, here I lowly crave 
Forgiveness ; I, thy worst, thy nearest foe. 
Look down upon me, for I mean to part 
Where I shall see thy sorrow never more. 
Now pray thy God: this wither'd brow remould 
To hero's scathf ul frown ; this palsi'd arm 
With lusty youth refresh, that I may die. 
Wreaking God's vengeance on the wrongs that made 
Thy rueful orbs so sunken, and thy flesh 
Scarce clothing the scourg'd ribs of penitence. 
Or take this steel, my Queen ! and at thy feet 
This life dispatch ; and be the hand I love 
The just avenger of my treason crimes. 
Unnatural, and shame that cheer'd thy foet. 



TEE ROCK OF AERANMORE. 85 

Pity the furrowing tears, the hoary locks. 
The godless youth, and the requited eld. 
This felon heart consume. Now grasp the steel: 
Death from the hand belov'd and falsely serv'd. 
Blesses the victim on this altar stone." 

He said, but Eire's hand his poniard sheath'd, 
Low bending o'er him, and his matted locks 
Caress'd, and upward turn'd his rugged brow, 
And fac'd it, tear for tear; and deep immers'd 
In the old man's decline, consoling words. 
All that she had, she gave : "Thou warrior gray ! 
The mother of thy grief bids thee take heart: 
Eemorse were fruitless bitter, save to bring 
The past, as tutor to the coming age. 
Deem not, like fortune's minion, patient worth 
An outcast, or reverse a fatal fall; 
'Not with thy sword beat on the gate of death 
For entrance, as the conquer'd only use; 
But guard me while I count the wintry moons. 
And wait returning spring of primal days: 
And if with time thou cope, thy maxim take; 
Outlive him, and his seed will honour thee : 
For though the hands are bound, th' unfetter'd mind, 



86 THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

In dungeon close, resistless arms may forge." 

She spake, and with serene affection turning, 
Fohla in tears she finds; earth's clearest mould 
In heavenly form and grace, in mourning droop'd, 
With vesper on her sunny breast and brow. 
Then as a glorious shape, in stature vast. 
At sunset sinking to his couch, bends o'er 
The weari'd Titan, ere the lights turn gray; 
In dreams of dawn she lulls him, and inspires 
With victory and full of days to come. 
And glories never gone, and gives repose : 
So Eire, lifted o'er the purple sea. 
With rainbow crown and zodiac cluster'd robe, 
A nation 'gainst the gloom of death defends. 
On bended knee inclin'd, sad Fohla's hand, 
She eases of her Ogham scroll, and lays 
Her sweetness to her lips, and thus resume? : 
"0 World, ice-hearted, stony-eyed and deaf 
To understanding ! Wisdom in tears behold ! 
Rejected, stripp'd, and hunger'd by the hands 
Of thy retainers ; most appealing sight 
For heaven to pity; whom thy courtiers mock 
And banter as they feast ! Fohla ! thy tears 



TEE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 87 

For thy lov'd Eire are the tribute old 

Which right must yield injustice, when he wars 

With virtue, girt with crime's outnumbering bands, 

And leads her captive. Wisdom, dry thy tears! 

And sing, Thou clear, far-seeing bard of light, ' 

Such lays as seer or Ollave never tun'd, 

Or in exalted soul so lowly wise. 

Sing on, and brighten as of old, thy brow : 

For was it not by thee, I reconcil'd. 

In the first glories of my Island reign. 

The Danaan fathers to the conquering Gael, 

And sav'd the Firbolg from the sword ? By thee, 

I sear'd the Eoman eagles from our plains ; 

Lords of the world ? By thy great soul inspir'd, 

I rais'd high Tara's seat of arts 'and arms, 

Laws, lineage, annals, games, and knightly feats 

Of chivalry; sweetening the feast of kings 

With music and fair women in their bloom: 

Till Druid, Ollave, bard, with sacred lore, 

Eecall'd heaven's absent face to fallen men. 

And drew barbaric nations here, to share 

The light of a far fam'd civility." 

She spake, and her majestic form, ascending 



88 THE ROCK OF AERANUORE. 

High on the rocky foreland o'er the sea, 
Where winds now rest their wings, and wait the call 
Of tempests, there she meditates her doom; 
Till silence darkens, when the soul hath eyes. 
Clearer than day, his light : her spangled train, 
Her spearman follows, Fohla by her side; 
Her orbs erect, as regent on her brow 
Shine forth, as two first magnitudes in heaven ; 
With which, in the serene of night, she reads 
A dream, which, in the heart begun, ne'er wakes 
Till letter'd in the skies; and thus, the score 
Her soul interprets : "Fohla, watch the night ! 
And with that faith that moves the mountains, gaze. 
While Doom is passing through the wistful stars. 
Goading the footpace of a tottering power 
Before the dreadful shadow, and conclude : 
This Destin'd Isle he parts, and of his reign. 
Leaves but the buri'd traces ; as of old. 
The stub roots of a hewn-down wilderness, 
For Banba's plough to root from the subsoil 
And burn, to fertilize a land reclaim'd." 
She ceas'd, but in deep meditation rapt. 
Her voice returns: "Meanwhile, Bright spirit! seek 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 89 

In foreign lands^ good tidings of my sons, 

Whom the great king hath priz'd ; yea, whom the Christ 

Hath scatter'd for his ends : what feats heroic, 

Worthy of former worth, unto these arms 

Restore them, and my long night watch relieve." 

Such words of hope, of deep submission sprung. 

The night watch eas'd, and Fohla comforted; 

In naught abash'd that Eire's heart supreme 

Her wisdom counsell'd and lost courage rais'd; 

And with farewell prophetic words combin'd: 

"I can foresee thy boundless heart restore 
The pulseless torpor of a nation's fall. 
Beyond all wisdom, and her temporal death, 
To life immortal." Thus the gentle sage; 
And as she came, so parts: as we have seen 
A snowy sail in twilight mist approach 
And flee the shoal reef and the moaning shore, 
Slop'd outward on her beam : aerial form, 
Half seen and vanish'd, seaward on its wings; 
So swift and white, doubtful to fancy's thought. 

Meanwhile, great admiration of that faith. 
Fruitful of hope and love, which Eire's breast 
Long years had nurs'd, gan seize the skies beyond 



90 THE BOCK OF ARRANMORE. 

The gold and emerald stars : wing'd powers were seen. 

Bearing celestial armoury to match 

Her tempter in the strife ; and angel's eyes 

Gaz'd fervently upon the court of stars, 

UnmufQ'd in their tearful sympathies. 

And now, Mac Alpruin, from the knees of Christ, 

Vrhcre he had knelt, approach'd in open view, 

The judgment and the congregated hosts. 

And straight, without preamble, thus began: 

"Ye hosts, in judgment seated on these orbs! 
Offspring of heaven, earth born! In my sojourn 
Upon the desert, heavenly visions gave 
Mine eyes, the light of Eire's future days; 
Wonderous to tell ! when carnal strife in arms 
Upon her plains, rather than peace, upholds 
The Eight Beatitudes: in time begun 
When Tudor's crime put enmities between 
The reign of Christ and human liberty : 
Renounce Him, and her sons are free; accept 
His easy yoke, exile and death their doom. 
But Oh ! what exile worse, what darker death 
Can. them befall, than light of faith obscur'd ? 
Hope's mother there is slain; what darker deaths 



TEE LOCK OF AREANMOEE. 91 

With stars put out, the cold heart turn'd awry 

From the soul's heavenly light, that giveth peace, 

And cast upon the earth, Seeks peace where such 

Hath ne'er abode, and never. Happy they. 

Who by the sword were slain, and slept with God : 

For where their blood sunk in the soil, up sprung 

A mystic growth, with double stem, that flower'd 

In Erin, and her people comforted 

In all their sorrow, till they brought it forth 

To nations of the West and of the East ; 

And where their faith was known, their wrongs were heard : 

So wonderous was their destiny ordain'd! 

Of that live faith, baptiz'd in heroes' blood, 

Behold the great defender and the field ! 

At Yellow Ford, Fardora's son in anns. 

"Ye Powers to judgment call'd ! I justly crave. 
Award the double victory, and pray : 
As in the Cross, so also in the Crown, 
They lust not as the nations; but with love, 
Honour the Cross abundantly in hearts 
And temples, of their wealth ; as emulous 
For homes in heaven, their sires had found, for those 
On earth they lost; and their great spirit keep." 



n THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

He spake, and pensive contemplation held 
The winged Powers, with muted harp and song. 
In expectation of triumphant woe: 
But the elect Beatitudes, severe. 
Upon the starry seats their judgment stay'd. 



Notes. 



1. In Ogham grav'd: "Besides the common characters, 
the Ancient Irish used various occult or artificial methods 
of writing called Ogham, in which they wrote their secret 
and mysterious affairs, I have an old book filled with them. 
The letters themselves were anciently called Feadha, i.e., 
woods." Sir James Ware. Irish Antiquities. 

"Ogham" writing (in Irish "Oghan Chraov") was an 
occult manner of writing on wood, or stone, used by the 
ancient Irish ("Ogham": Irish, secret writing, and 
"Chraov," a bough or branch of a tree) ; and was the mys- 
tic species of writing employed by the Druids. Connel- 
lan's Irish Grammar. 

2. The peaceful Ith: "In the reign of Miled a great 
dearth and famine occurred in Spain, of twenty-six years' 
continuance, occasioned, as well by reason of the former 
troubles which hindered the people from cultivating and 
manuring the landsground, as for want of rain to moisten 
the earth; but Miled believed the famine to have fallen 
upon him and his people as a judgment and punishment 
from their gods, for their negligence in seeking out the 
country destined for their final abode, so long before fore- 
told by Cac'hear, their Druid or magician, as already men- 
tioned; the time limited by the prophecy for the accom- 
plishment thereof being now nearly, if not fully expired. 
To expiate his fault and to comply with the will of the 
gods, Miled, with the general approbation of his people, sent 
hii Uncle Ithe with his son Lugad, and one hundred and 

93 



94 NOTES: SCENE 11. 

iifty stout men to bring them an account of those western 
islands; who, accordingly, arriving at the island since 
called Ireland, and landing in that part of it now called 
Munster, left his son with fifty of his men to guard the 
ship and with the rest travelled about the island. Informed, 
among other things, that the three sons of Cearmad, called 
Mac-Cuill, and Mac-Ceacht, and Mac-Creine, did then and 
for thirty years before rule and govern the island, each for 
one year in his turn ; and that the country was called after 
the names of their three queens, Eire, Folah and Banbha, 
respectively: one year called 'Eire,' the next 'Folah,' 
and the next 'Banbha,' as their husbands reigned in their 
regular turns ; by which means the island is ever since in- 
differently called, but most commonly Eire, because that 
Mac-Cuill, the husband of Eire, ruled and governed the 
country in his turn the year that the Clan-na-Mile, or the 
sons of Miled, arrived and conquered Ireland. When Ithe 
arrived where the (Danan) brothers were, he was honour- 
ably received and entertained by them; and finding him to 
be a man of great wisdom and knowledge, they referred 
their disputes to him for decision. But no sooner was he 
gone than the brothers began to reflect on the high com- 
mendation which Ithe gave of the island, and, suspecting 
his design of bringing others to invade it, resolved to pre- 
vent him, and therefore pursued him with a strons^ party, 
overtook him, fought and routed his men and v^-ounded him- 
self to death at a place called from that fight and his name, 
'Magh Ithe,' or the Plain in the barony of E^iphoe, county 
of Donegal; whence his son, having found him in that 
condition, brought his dead and mangled body back to 
Spain, and there exposed it to public view, thereby to 
excite his friends and relations to avenge the murder. 

"The Irish chroniclers observe that all the invaders and 
planters of Ireland, namely, Partholanus, ISTemedius, Fir- 
volgians, Tua-de-Danans, and Clan-na-Miled, were origi- 
nally Scythians of the line of Japhet, who had the language 



NOTES: SCENE II. 95 

called Bearla-Tobbai or Gaelic common amongst them all." 
Irish Pedigrees. O'Hart. Vol. I., p. 43, vide "The 
Milesian Conquest of Ireland." Keating. Hist. O'Grady, 
Hist. Ire., ch. XVII. O'Flaherty's Ogygla. 

3. Himalayan heights: "Scythia was divided into two 
large portions, European and Asiatic: the former extend- 
ing along the north of the Danube and the Euxine; the 
latter, beyond the Caspian sea and the river Jaxartes, now 
Siboon. Scythia in x\sia was divided by the chain of the 
Imaus mountains or Baloor Tag, a branch projecting north 
from the Indian Caucasus, now the Hindoo Cash, or west- 
ern part of the Himalayas. These divisions were dis- 
tinguished by the names of Scythia intra and extra Imaum. 
Ancient Scythia included all the country to the north to 
the Hyperborean or Frozen Ocean, and eastward as far as 
the Seres, on the west of China : an immense region, but 
still not commensurate with the whole of what is now 
called Tartary, which extends to the north and west of 
China as far as the mouth of the Amoor. Moving 
to the west, the Scythians settled in Scythia in 
Europe; that vast extent of country north of the Danube 
and Black Sea, and embracing what is now known as 
European Russia." O'Hart's Irish Pedigrees. Vol. I., 
p. 14. 

4. Callia^s King: "It was in the spring of 1690, the 
second year of the Revolution in Ireland, that the forma- 
tion of the force styled 'the Irish Brigade in the Service 
of France,' was commenced, by the arrival there, of the 
first Irish regiments belonging to that corps. ..." 

' "James requiring the prestige and exam.ple of a corps of 
French soldiers in Ireland as some set off against the num- 
bers of Continental veterans in William's army, and Louis 
being so pressed near home by the League of Augsburg, 



96 NOTES: SCENE 11. 

that he required as many men from James as might com- 
pensate, as far as possible, for the force forwarded to Ire- 
land — the Irish had to send to France, on board the same 
fleet which had brought over Lauzun's contingent, the 
body of troops before referred to, as the origin of the Irish 
Brigade in the French service .... 

"Those troops, according to their first formation, or on 
their embarkation in Ireland and landing in France, con- 
sisted of five infantry regiments, whose colonels were 
Lieutenant-Genera 1 Justin MacCarthy, Lord Viscount 
Mountcashel, the Honorable Colonel Daniel O'Brien, and 
the Honourable Colonel Arthur Dillon. According to the 
arrangements made for those regiments with the French 
government by Lord Mountcashel, the officers and soldiers 
were to have strangers, or higher pay than that of the 
French soldiery." O'Callaghan. Irish Brigades, p. 7-8. 

5. "Thy suppliants." See MacGeoghegan Articles of the 
Treaty of Limerick, ch. LI., p. 601-613. 

6. To slay the peace-makers: "The heads of the Irish 
families of Leix and Olfaly were invited in the queen's 
name, and under her protection, to attend a meeting or 
conference in the great rath on the hill of Mullamast 
(Mullach-Maistean), in the county of Kildare, and about 
four hundred of them obeyed the summons. The Irish 
annalists assert that they were people who had remained on 
friendly terms with the English, and that they had been 
summoned to show themselves with the greatest numbers 
they could bring with them. Some of them may have been 
implicated in the revolt of Eory Oge, who was then verging 
towards his fall; but no special provocation is alleged 
against them, and at all events, they came to the meeting 
under the guarantee of the royal protection; no sooner, 
however, had they assembled in the great rath than they 
-were encompassed by a treble line of the queen's garrison 



NOTES: SCENE 11. 97 

soldiers, and all of them, to a man, most inhumanly butch- 
ered in cold blood; and this atrocious act was committed 
with the cognizance and approval of the queen's deputy 
in Ireland, Sir Henry Sidney." Haverty's Hist. Ireland, 
p. 409. 

The feast: "Walter (not Robert) Earl of Essex, on the 
conclusion of a peace, invited Brian O'jSTeill of Clanaboy 
with a great number of his relations to an entertainment, 
where they lived together in great harmony, making good 
cheer for three days and nights ; when on a sudden O'Neill 
was surprised with an arrest together with his brother and 
his wife, by the Earl's orders. His friends were put to the 
sword before his face, nor were the women and children 
spared. He was himself, with his brother and wife, sent 
to Dublin, where they were cut up in quarters." O'Con- 
nell's Memoir of Ireland. 

7. The Gaulish King: "Of the Irish forces, amounting 
to about 19,000 men and officers, who, from the conclusion 
of the Treaty of Limerick, in October, 1691, to the month 
of January, 1692, left their country in successive em- 
barkations for France, it has already been stated, that those 
who were to act under the King James commission, as his 
array or, so far, as a distinct force from Lord Mount- 
cashel's Brigade, and others of their countrymen in the 
French service — were to be divided into two troops of Horse 
Guards, two regiments of Horse, two regiments of Dra- 
goons, a pied, or dismounted, in order to serve as Infantry, 
eight regiments of Foot (these making between them fif- 
teen battalions) and, finally, three independent Companies 
of Foot. The heads of the original Capitulation or agree- 
ment between Louis XIV. and James II., with reference 
to those troops, specified that they were to be, says the 
abbreviator of the document, 'under the command of James 
and of such General Officers as he should appoint. All the 



98 NOTES: SCENE II. 

officers were to receive their commissions from him, and 
the troops were to be subject only to such rules and dis- 
cipline of war as he should appoint.' .... 'That the king of 
Great Britain be at liberty, at any time hereafter to bring 
all, or such parts of the said forces, as he shall think fit, 
into any of His Majesty's dominions, or elsewhere, as he 
shall judge necessary or convenient.' " O'Callaghan, Irish 
Brigades. 

« 

8. I rais'd high Tara: "Heremon built the palace of 
Tara in honour of his Queen Tea, from whom it deriv'd 
the name of Teamore. 

"It was an immense pile of wood, whose workmanship 
and architectural grandeur display'd the highest taste of 
Grecian art." Nicholson. 

*'The Milesian buildings, though compos'd of wood, were 
more elegant, more sumptuous, extensive and more beauti- 
ful to the eye than those erected of stone, on account of 
the various engravings in relievo, paintings, and the line 
volutes that adorned the columns, sculptur'd from ponder- 
ous trees of oak. On this account the workmen and artists 
of Ireland have often been induced to abandon their own 
country and repair to Britain, where they raised many 
heathen temples before the introduction of Christianity." 
Ward. 

"It appears that Cormac, the renowned Monarch of Ire- 
land, A.D. 254, rebuilt the palace of Tara of marble, on 
an enlarged scale of grandeur. We may form some idea 
cf its magnitude when we are told that it was five hundred 
feet in length, and ninety-five in breadth and sixty high. 
It was adorned with thirty porticoes. In the middle of the 
state-room hung a lantern of prodigious size, studded with 
300 lamps; and the lodging aparaments were furnished with 
a hundred and fifty beds, and the hospitable tables always 



NOTES: SCENE II. 99 

spread with delicious fare for 1,500 guests who daily par- 
took of the royal banquet. 

"There were three sideboards covered with golden and 
silver goblets, and the king was waited upon at table by a 
hundred and fifty of the most distinguished champions in 
the kingdom. 

"The household troops, who were in constant duty, con- 
sisted of the royal 1,050 of the flower of the Irish army." 
Warner. 

"Tara was once a stately palace as its ruins showeth 
today. It stood on a lofty hill in Meath which commands 
a most goodly prospect. The valleys are fertile and beau- 
tiful. In this palace the counties had their meetings of 
provincial kings, senators and poets." Holinshed's Chron- 
icle. 

"Primarily and essentially, the Isthmian and Olympian 
gatherings were not held for purposes of sport, but for 
commerce and adjustment of inter-tribal relations. But 
the more sensational and exhilarating character of any 
event tends to absorb in popular estimation all its other 
and more intimate characteristics. Thus the great Olym- 
pian and Isthmian gatherings are remembered as games, 
and not as fairs. 

"In Ireland, in addition to the local and provincial fairs 
which took place frequently, there was held every third 
year, on the plains of Meath, one great fair, which sur- 
passed all the rest in public importance. To the great tri- 
ennial fair of Tara, held midway between north and south, 
the chiefs gathered from the most remote parts of the coun- 
try. To violate this fair was the highest public olfence 
known to our ancesters. The use of a weapon was pun- 
ished with instant death, for which no Eric was or could 
be accepted. It was the jubilee season of the Irish; ancient 
prestige and reverence protected those who journeyed to 

ILofC. 



100 NOTES: SCENE 11. 

and from that fair, and wars were suspended during its 
celebration. 

"From a small beginning the great Feis of Tara ad- 
vanced in public importance, until it became for Ireland 
what tlie Olympian festival was to Greece.'' Standish 
O'Grady, Hist. Ire., Vol. I., Chap. XII. 

"Will it," says the liberal English writer, Dr. Warner, 
"be any longer doubted after this, whether the ancient 
Irish had any philosophy, literature, or arts in their pagan 
state? Will any critic in this country (England) any 
longer confidently assert, that the Irish had not the use of 
letters till after the arrival of St. Patrick, and the con- 
version of the island to Christianity ? Ought we, English- 
men, not rather to take shame ourselves, that we have 
hitherto always treated that ancient, gallant people, with 
such illiberal contempt, who had the start of the Britons, 
for many ages, in arts and sciences, in learning and in 
laws." 

"Anterior to the propagation of the Gospel in Ireland, 
our great monarch, Cormac McArt, was transcendantly pre- 
eminent above all others, in the third century, for his pro- 
found knowledge in the antiquity and Jurisprudence of his 
country; the schools he endowed, the books he composed, 
and the laws he established, bear unquestionable testimony 
of his munificence, wisdom and learning," Transactions 
of the Dublin Gaelic Society, 



TEE BOCK OF ARRANMORE. 101 



Scene III. 

Eire is tempted by the demon, Crom Cruah. Death of the 
Tribemonstar. A voice from heaven. Eire's lament. Con- 
soled by Fohla's account of the actions of her sons in the ser- 
vice of the Gaulish king. Banba brings back tidings of the 
great victory of Fontenoy and the response from the tombs 
of Dune. Descent of the three sisters from the rock of Ar- 
ranmore to the sea, and their return to Slieve Blahma. Saint 
George addresses the umpire saints, who, having pronounced 
judgment, depart into heaven. 

Thrice thirty winters, on the heedless Eock, 
The Queen's high seat, have blown. The scorching suns. 
The sleety nights, the cool foreboding stars. 
Their seasons rul'd, and wan'd; sea-faring moons 
Their voyage steer'd to distant climes of peace; 
E'en tempests found their rest; all suffer'd change, 
Save faith and sorrow with th' unshaken soul, 
Where Eire sits, more steadfast than her throne. 
But that faint hour of trial, which bare want 
And misery have bur3en*d toward the lapse 



102 TEE BOCK OF ARRANMORE. 

Of waning virtue, when the Dragon's wings 
Approach a human prey; that hour, e'en now, 
The tempter weens at hand, and hovers nigh: 
The same, that in like plight, Fardora's son 
Once drave, confounded, from the hell he feign'd, 
Back to his prison fires. But bolder thoughts 
Plead first adventure ; hence, the tragic fiend 
Lights on the central figure of the scene 
His miscreant plot to mend. By his device. 
High heaven gan mingle with the foul abyss: 
The Sun himself, meridian, as in power, 
By age enfeebl'd, or in wrath, hath signs, 
Worse than eclipse or evil stars portend. 
Adverse to nature's laws. With limping halt, 
Midway he falters, and from noon to bronze, 
From purple stain to black, his omen lowers. 
The winds are dumb; the wave and cloud are sunk 
In either firmament ; on the scant soil. 
The desert floret sleeps, and 'neath their wings. 
The rock fowl hide their bills. Around the Queen 
The marsh fire, in a vapory horror, coils, 
"With poisonous exhalations fed, that quench 
All other light, save what the spirit within 



TEE ROCK OF ABRANMOBE. 103 

Had stor'd; and 'mid the fen, a palsi'd voice 
Eustles close by her ear, with this fell mouth : 

"0 Thou, benighted offspring of the gods, 
Eire ! high seated in the world alone. 
Queen of the lawless winds and reckless waves; 
A rude democracy, that starve thy jaws, 
And mock thy airy sceptre. Lonely, and worse ! 
Thy spearman cowering at thy stepless feet, 
111 fam'd, because thy trusted minister: 
Thy bed, this flinty monolith, thy dreams, 
The midnight horror of forthcoming woe. 

"Eire ! now lay thy pale cheek on the rock. 
Where thy last tear is shed." Here to his feet, 
Springs the Tribemonster old, and lifts his spear 
At shapeless cloud; but Eire bids him, peace. 
And yet the voice prevails : "Mother of kings ! 
Thy royal stem hath shrunk, and now beseemeth 
A slender wand, the tyrant holds to point 
Thy splendours past; to spurn their tatter'd pride, 
And prick their bare bones. Yea, their golden writ, 
His breath hath moulder'd on their monuments ; 
And now, the world's lost memory recks not of 
Thy grand historic days. Thy castles gray. 



104 THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

"Where once thy great ones rul'd, like dogs estrang'd. 
Snarl at thy form and footsteps at the gate, 
Where Bana Thua long hath ceas'd to cry, 
And Desolation reigns, the seated king : 
Or else their towers, the Saxon horde have seiz'd, 
And nestl'd there; making their looks conform 
E'en to the savage instincts of their change. 
That warns far off their former lords, with frown 
Of armed battlement from recreant brows : 
Precincts of death, environs mourn'd and fear'd. 

"Queen of the Scythian chariots with their gods 
That gave thy youth proud fame ! now stoop thy brow. 
And muffl'd be in death thy passing sighs. 
In baleful marsh mist; lest thy agony, 
Unseemly and unpiti'd, reach their shades. 
To mockery of thy foreign deities. 
With service long and vain : dimness of vision, 
Gender'd in early days, thy ruin late. 
Which screen'd the pitfall of thy overthrow. 

"Thou victim of strange gods ! 'twas not the Dane 
Or Fohmer, with their idols, e'er defac'd 
Thy verdant Isle, lavish of nature's smile, 
In every feature, mountain, dale and grove, 



THE ROCK OF ARBANMORE. 105 

For Druid lore and mystic rites rever'd, 

With oaklands of the roebuck and the deer. 

For building priz'd, or chase, a wealthy spoil ; 

Its plains in story fam'd, where prosper'd long 

Ancestral roofs, well known to harvest moons, 

Bees, herds, and woolly flocks, refresh'd by streams 

Silvery with fish ; its havens, once the home 

Of the civility of gentle breed, 

Commerce and art, where potentates and kings. 

Born of the sun, and to thy fathers' gods. 

In kindred worship join'd, unnumber'd keels 

In friendship moor'd; its kings, the people's choice. 

Of clear nobility ; its stately halls 

Of feast and song, and memory of deeds, 

Harp'd by sweet bards and writ in chronicles. 

It was no panym hordes, poor Eire ! none. 

But they that garbl'd hymns and knelt with thee 

At the same altar, and with incense prais'd 

Thy foreign god ; 'twas they at last deflour'd 

Its native grace, and now thy vitals tear." ^^^ 

Thus, in a gloom fog, with the creaking voice 
Of tall marsh reeds upon the breathless air. 
When winnow'd by the wings of geese or cranes. 



106 TEE ROCK OP ARRANMORE. 

Low bent in search of prey, the bloodless fiend. 
On deeds of impious men his proem founds; 
As though God's laws were null for disobey'd 
By men or angels: baseless plea, as faint 
As rustling reed; for Eire's luminous faith. 
Of light begotten, reck'd not how God's foes. 
Their blown or hidden malice may assert 
In argument or arms; and from her seat, 
Aloft in cloudy night, its light diffus'd : 

"And who art thou, that with the fetid breath 
Of darkness and the subterranean fens, 
Woulds't puff thy being's emptiness on ears 
That loathe thy stagnant sense, and dare condole 
With blasphemies, my woe? Think not, dull Fiend! 
My pangs unsweeten'd, or my bosom dri'd 
For nursing other sons, whose arms restore 
Meadows and greenwood heights and summer leas. 
Avaunt thee, Tempter! to the blasted heath. 
Thy wisp fire pale betake and rede accurst; 
Lest ere thy given time, substantial pain, 
Invok'd by me, to lower depth and flame, 
Thy vapory being seize, engross'd and bound." 
She spake, but unabash'd, the wily fiend, 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 107 

Though with persuasion bad, in substance true: 
"My voice is now a feeble breath, which once. 
Thy reverence claim'd; when Dagda, awful sire, 
False daughter ! could command the guardian storms 
Of Mananan and Lir, 'round Elga's shores, 
Where thou wert sceptr'd ; and the gods of war, 
Moreega, Kemid, Macha raise in arms 
Around thy throne, ere thy desertion blind 
Me Crom, ^2) defam'd, Crom, by the nations fear'd; 
And on the plain of adoration wrought 
The deicide, for which thy Christian zeal, 
Th' inheritors of kings inhabit long 
The warren and the hut; and of strange lords. 
The hireling serfs, now swinck on vernal glebe 
Their fathers rul'd, in villain nakedness 
Eevil'd; their impotent and rustic pride 
The sport of conquerors. To them enthralled. 
Thy meadows, greenwood heights, and harvest leas, 
Once native to endearing blessedness, 
A foreign land appear of tithe and toil, 
With entrail pinch'd and burden on the back. 
Where servile claims to worth and honours old 
Are fable deem'd in story. For the light 



108 TEE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

Of Fohla's ancient letter'd scores is lost 

To vassalage; and later knowledge brings 

Death's penalty : enduring darkness glooms 

Their hopes, their fate, their worship and their fame. 

Hence, their heroic names and Gaelic tongue, 

Fountain of hard and sage, that long refresh'd 

The nations, now, the terms of jest and gibe, 

The bravery of the castle fool at feast; 

The tune that makes men merry in their cups, 

Or fix the scornful eye : for such they live. 

Derided for their wrongs; and hence their claim 

To manhood, 'neath the garb of indigence 

And sordid reckoning of their lot on earth. 

By proof of former worth or lore — the jeer 

Of railers on the highways of the world. 

For them, no champion in their midst can rise; 

No father of their race, to fend or plead : 

For the slavemaster wields alone the power. 

Senate and camp, and from their state withholds 

Civility, with all her friendly train; 

Ships, commerce, kindly intercourse with realms. 

Well known to their ancestral sires, and writ 

In Fohla's ancient code: ^^^ in lieu whereof. 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 109 

Th' extirping sword, the dungeon close and foul, 

The gibbet rope at grange and city wall; 

While all resisting force the famine gripes 

And hound pursues. So wrong'd them hath the world, 

Though by themselves worse wrong'd ; for with long years, 

Privation hath its due oblivion wrought 

On manhood, and the sire the stripling yokes 

With many stripes, to discipline his ways 

To those that lord him; or repugnance blind 

So loathes the Saxon, that his way of life 

His state has made his choice; and as a slave 

He ploughs, or reaps, or builds, or clothes, or feeds. 

"Thus on itself engendering, ignorance 
Breeds tyrannous obstruction. Then were light 
The goad and iron thrall, when with the grudge 
Of kindred serf compar'd; whose canine moutn 
His master's hand would lick and at the gate 
Growl at his mother's pups, however priz'd. 
For serfdom in its gloomy stare can see 
Naught of itself to raise by virtue's claim ; 
And the slave's envy of the slave surmounts 
That of the mighty in their rival sway 
That strives for empire. Hence, with distant kings. 



110 THE BOCK OF ARRANMORE. 

In war and wisdom, thy great sons are found; 
But none with thee: and hence, idolatrous 
Their temple justly nam'd, whose votaries 
The world's reproach condemns; for of their cast, 
None gentle arts pursue, no healing leech 
Is suffer'd ; in the council hall of state. 
Outcast of men ! no seat or voice have they : 
And like the wolf, the villain priest outruns 
The beagle's scent, or dies; and in the chase, 
Th' apostate son outwits his sire, and claims 
The livings patrimonial." Thus with voice 
Faint as the rustling reed, his devilish plea 
The demon urg'd; truthful as seer inspir'd 
To earth had ever spoke; v/ith burden sad 
So frought, so fram'd to Hell's dark polic}', 
To gore the breast of Eire, and bedim 
The apparition bright she mirror'd there, 
Eob'd like a martyr; to whose constancy 
She turns, and from the tempter finds retreat 
To nurse resistance to its bursting forth. 
But now the primal cause of Eire's woe, 
The gTim Tribemonster, to that baleful dirge 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. Ill 

Abandoned, and by nature's stern retort 

Remorseful stung, bewails his sinful years, 

No pall of death may shroud, or hide their suns. 

That yet to ripe their fruitage rise, and warm 

Their seed accurs'd, after his days are done: 

Lost soul, whose testament the future scribe 

Shall grave like holy writ; new parable, 

As wanting to the text inspir'd, for all 

Gadelas' sons to read to latest time. 

The funeral mound of dole he rais'd them; now 

His life o'erwhelms ; for ne'er shall worse distress 

Than that he caus'd, till nature's sense is mute, 

More keen to pierce the heart of centuries. 

Find utterance in this universe of tears. 

Thus, the Tribemonster king of Inisfail 

Eender'd his tortur'd ghost, and pass'd from earth 

Unheeded; for the queen, with soul absorb'd, 

His moan heard not, or knew not whose, or whence ; 

ISTor of his passing due observance took 

The fiend, but still his impious breath exhales: 

"Thus thy new gods their worshippers empower, 
Inhuman laws and slavish bonds impose, 
Odious to Fohla's wisdom; but be thou 



112 THE BOCK OF ARRANMORE. 

The forehead of the rising age; a queen 

Of liberal thought and large humanity, 

Scorning the broil of creeds, no merit claims 

In either world; and be thy native Gael, 

Thy god, thy faith, thy worship; or thyself. 

As born of thee, their sole divinity. 

For on thy brief resolve dispersion hangs, 

Or freedom smiles. Queen mother save thine own! 

Restore the Gael their rosy babes to play 

And feed on Banba's flowery breast; and grow 

To a great people 'mid the nations, fani'd 

In wealth and full of days, and proud in arms: 

For if with Christ they lose, afflicted Mother! 

Without him shall they gain; and if for him 

Men slay them, e'en without him shall they spare. 

Eire! take back the gods that early bless'd 

Thy reign, when Banba, rich in herds and flocks, 

And Fohla, with the tables of her law. 

Were earth's divinities: strange gods forsake; 

Or else that limitary homage pay 

The Saxon serves withall." Thus bas'd on truth, 

Crom of the altars stain 'd with human gore, 

His argument, an airy structure rais'd; 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMOEE. 113 

Nor carri'd truth so high, but with deceit 
Of vapory exhalation, friendship feign'd 
To counsel with God's friends, their inward thoughts, 
Admonish in the shade; and truth eterne 
Had still impugn'd; still, of his feeble cause 
Untaught, though by Fardora's son once gagg'd 
In his own hell he fram'd, and downward hurl'd, 
With fright and shame, unto the hell he fear'd. 
But Eire now confronts him with the faith 
In Him she nurtur'd, which unrighteous power 
Ne'er scath'd or conquered; kings or demons arm'd 
With all the progeny of time and change 
Swelling their legions. Her high will exert, 
Ere tongue could be heart's messenger to heaven, 
Th'fe tempter drave, and to the desert flower 
Brought light upon its cup, and mov'd the breeze. 
The rock fowl and the waters. In the rear 
Of that dense night departing, toward the skies 
With eyes devout, from her high seat she rose. 
The snow-white arms the Scythian mother spread. 
Ascending lit the sea, as thus in prayer, 
The giant breast its pent-up grief unbounds : 
"Sire of the bleeding son, in whose bright court 



114 TEE BOCK OF ARRANMORE. 

Untimely death and mourning once abode ! 
Thou know'st that from the night Mac Alpruin first 
Thy Christ proclaim'd with fire on Teamuir's hill. 
Where my ancestral gods their mansions held, 
With direful change to home and altars fear'd, 
These hands ne'er shed his blood; this will perverse 
Supplant'd never; or with treacherous aim 
Arm'd the resentment of those deities 
Against his coming reign! The world avows 
That in my sacred groves his temples rose; 
Wise Fohla's laws to his submission paid; 
My Druids were his tonsur'd eremites; 
My poets were his priests, my kings his saints, 
Whose halls of feast and song their splendours veil'd 
To keep his fasts; my harp its lays forgot. 
With all its bardic glories, for his hymns 
Of sacrifice; my maidens young in flower, 
Whose glance of pride the hero's bosom fir'd, 
Now his veil'd nuns, in white virginity, 
Dayspring, and prime, and eve, their vows renew'd. 

"Fair Banba's care his worshippers suppli'd 
Her season's fruits; whether on upland green 
His mansion stood, ^^^ or in the city throng'd, 



THE ROCK OF AREANMORE. 115 

Or on the Jutland brink its beacon light 
Guided the distant mariner o'er the wave. 
Or in some sacred isle's serene recluse, 
Where in our youth her altars Fohla rais'd 
Unto the stars, and to their queen, the Moon, 
And Sun, their lord, our father's deities : 
Whose kings, though by invading hordes assail'd, 
Unenvious of his reign, large tribute paid 
In kine and flocks, gems, costly silk and gold. 
Such bless'd abodes, e'en by this hand bestow'd. 
They chose for contemplation, '•^'> peace secur'd, 
The nurse of wisdom; whence endu'd, they fetch, 
Wher'er his fire unfed, new burning coals, 
As fame beyond the Ehetian Alps attests, 
South to the Midland Sea; ^^'> till by their wo^ks 
Inspir'd, far regions sought the Holy Isle, 
Myriads of thine elect, and there were fed. 
For at my table full I sat them down 
To banquet free, and raiment gave and home 
Thy ministers, where e'en on food divine. 
The hungry fed; whereof thy mouth hath spoke. 
That such, the merit of the just shall be. 
Bprn in the camp, from childhood, woman's thews 



116 THE BOCK OF AREANMORE. 

Were bronz'd but not her heart; proudly I quell'd 
Invading foes; but with the world in arms, 
I fought not for men^s creeds, but Fatherland: 
T warrVl not between mankind an"! its Tvlaker: 
Let both look to it; their sects we reck not of. 
Our foes would pledge us Satan's recompense 
For heaven's betrayal; there we scorn the gage; 
For to their loss, the justice of our cause 
Nation with God unites, and well consists; 
And till this war of creeds, by Tudor wag'd, 
No time hath record when on Eire's soil 
Religion shed men's blood. The Christian came. 
The heathen rite still held its worshippers. 
Till by the general voice the idol fell. 
Then for the strife of schools, the vivid pens 
Of Fohla's sages; but in Heaven's dread name, 
Man never slaughter'd man. There is on high 
A sword will guard its own. My people free 
To serve, I fought the Laughlan, many an age. 
On Muma's wealthy plains; on steep Lahane 
And Cluan Tharif's shore. Blackwater's banks 
And Seaghais' hills bear memory how I smote 
The Tudor's lords and serfs; invaders fear'd, 



THE ROCK OF AERANMORE. 11' 

Sheep-clothed prophets scorn' d, who '"gainst His fold 
Ontwolf the heathen; but high heaven can witness^, 
'Gainst liberty and right my coward sword 
By sage or hero's arm, was never drawn. 

"Whence have I wrong'd or sham'd thy Holy One, 
Just Father of the world! that now the world 
Thinks justice' end fulfill'd in wronging me? 
I gave Him roofs, and on the wintry moor 
My nurselings lodge in the frore winds of night: 
I gave Him bread, and now my sons must earn 
The thistle weed for sweat of daily toil: 
I gave Him lands, and now his faithful Gael, 
Landless for serving Him, his foes must serve; 
And for the faith they bore, fair Banba's Isle, 
Their sires defended, quit before the sword 
Of them that hate Him. Father! from thy seat, 
Thv Son beside thee, look on me and thine ; 
He of this breast, whom, like a second mother. 
It nurs'd for thee ! Show mercy's face unveil'd, 
That pity's interposing look at last. 
E'en for His sake, remit what justice claims, 
To penitential tears; if such thy will: 
But if in bonds we serve thee, and set free, 



118 THE BOCK OF ARBANMORE. 

Forsake thee; then in bonds we better lie, 
Naked of all life's cheer; but still with thee!" 

Thus prayed the mother, dear to him, who knew 
The heart of her affliction for the wrongs 
Her sons for penance bore ; nor long delay'd : 
When from an amber-skirted cloud that gloom'd 
Hy Breassail o'er the watery hemisphere, 
A. voice she heard : ''Woman, upbraid me not ! 
Or wouldst thou rend my heart? These works are thine! 
Yea, by thy faith, e'en greater shalt thou do 
And suffer 'mong the nations for my sake: 
Yet was it meet that fratricidal race 
Seasons of penance purge, and fetters bind 
Their bloodstain'd hands in thrall, and harsh rebuke. 
With chastening palms of contradiction long, 
Strike on their froward cheeks, that thou may'st reign." 

This heard, on knees of meek thanksgiving bent, 
The suppliant bow'd to earth at Heaven's decree; 
Her crown of seven bright hues, as was her soul, 
Illum'd; which now with added joy was filled, 
When those white arms and eyes to heaven uplift, 
Descending found repose on Fohla's neck. 
Low bent, the bliss to share; who Cherub-like, 



THE ROCK OF AliRANMORE. 119 

In thought submerged beheld the scene, unview'd. 
For she between the winds, from climes remote, 
Attendant on the Mother, floated nigh; 
And ere they rose, the transport of her look 
Like sentient marble, sculptur'd in that land 
Where men made gods familiar, soul to soul. 
Met Eire's gaze, who with mute words ador'd. 

But Fohla, (in her ear the cloud voice heard 
From heaven still pregnant) on the sea-worn ledge 
Of Arran, from entrancement of the scene. 
First woke, and turn'd to Eire, thus bespake : 

"Great is thy God, Eire ! that upheld 
Thee, single in the hundred-handed strife ; 
The warfare of endurance, whence the palm, 
None but the godlike bear, and gave thy sons 
Thy cause sustain abroad, with deeds inscrib'd 
In starry tables of enduring light. 
That treasure human fame." She said and straight. 
Queen Eire with her rosy crown arising. 
Gleams like the Titan god through morning's tears 
In Anril's sky; or Blahma's snowy top 
WTien purple ting'd at eve, he looks beyond 
The admiration of his subject hills. 



120 TEE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

A hundred leagues to west of where they stand; 
And with proud thoughts, her martial soul expressed; 

"Sing of the Gael's new glories, and recall 
Their heroes to m}' side, that leading forth 
On native fields, the Saxon boor I shew 
What might fierce love imparts. Alarm the chiefs; 
My spear in hand I lift ; my glare-eyed steeds 
Are foaming for the battle : from my car 
I hail them o'er the plain — but what ? — say 
Mysterious Heaven! Is that pale vision death? 
Or else my spearman sleeping on his watch 
When hosts are rising? Say, which sleep is this? 
It heaves not in the agonies that trench 
Its harrow'd brow, and such contorted feature. 
On languid members, slumber never laid. 
Eeliold that face ! no hoariness of years. 
Shedding a peaceful torpor o'er decay 
Hath lurd to sleep: Ah, Fohla, fix thine eyes! 
The rending of the heart depicts it there. 
Burst in the long recital of my wrongs. 
Did not mine ear, amid the darkness, catch 
His dying moans, his penitential sighs. 
In filial tenderness express'd, but deem'd 



TEE ROCK OF AREANMORE. 12i 

The tempter's guile ? My patience was his bane. 

Alas ! Thou fearless champion, that didst run 
Beside my car, calling the nations on! 
What knight of mighty bone, henceforth shall marshall 
My chieftain kings to war ? Thou first in arms 
To smite th' invader ! death in thee, hath seiz'd 
The life that thou didst guard ; which now disdains 
The paltry residue of joyless days. 
In evening gloom bereft of one that liv'd 
In memories of the morning. Sister wise! 
Once did I chide thy tears ; but wound so deep : 
Who may contain its flood ?" But Fohla soft, 
Consoling, though with earnest truth replies : 

"Breast of the melting snow, that ne'er congeals, 
Though skies be dark ! Whence hath thy heart its streams ? 
For such lifebearing fountain never sprang 
From earth's chill veins. The prodigal of heart, 
Now limit to embrace the higher good; 
And for his loss be comforted, that heaven 
May deem its bounty thank'd. For with his sleep, 
A change brings o'er thy people the forecast 
Of kindlier fortune, which thy god announe'd 
In thunder, and forbade lament for him. 



122 TEE BOCK OF ABBANMORE. 

For he anow of tears hath caus'd thee shed 

For them that sleep. Was he not first and last. 

Thy false usurper ? All thy best of blood. 

His spear consunr d ; from Heber, Milad's son, 

And all the mightiest thrones of Tara's kings, 

E'en to Kincora's victor crown that brake 

The Vikings with his Dalgais, when the dread 

Of Denmark was the plague: e'en him he slew. 

What lewd sea rover e'er thy sceptre claim'd. 

But he had back'd with half his pedigrees 

Of factious and deprav'd nobility, 

Mocking thy mother tears ? for feudal strife. 

Vain glory, treason, murders, bribes, his sport. 

He liefer had revenge a brother's slight, 

Than vanquish thousands of a foreign foe; 

His evil course corrupting to the brink 

And tribulation of thy piteous fall 

At Cremna's walls, where in one baleful night. 

Thy two great Hughs, at last dissension found, 

And Thou thyself these wounds. Well tim'd he sleeps, 

Lest in contempt of men, Just heaven permit 

That liberty, which virtue lends to curb 

Licentious ruling, as in dotage blind, 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMOBE. 123 

Or sleep, to kitchen a base appetite 

Among the multitude ; till brute excess. 

Within sees its own idol, and becomes 

Itself, the beast of sacrifice." She said. 

But the fond mother in the holy strife 

Of resignation's first approach, abhorr'd 

The freezing change; till inward light restor'd, 

She gaz'd on that harsh brow and murmur'd low: 

"Then if this dispensation, I must deem 
A stern reproof to discipline our thoughts 
To truer wisdom, — Oh! Ill-starr'd in birth! 
Though ever leagued with treason, lov'd as life; 
Though penitent, they call thee unredeem'd; 
None left to mourn thee; none but Eire's tears. 
Poor soul, begotten of the womb of strife ! 
With all thy sins heap'd on thine aged head, 
Because I lov'd thee once, I mourn thee now : 
Would that my life could save thee." Thus her plaint 
Unspeakable, was like the hidden grief 
On dismal coast, when waves desert their caves, 
And leave the sleepless winds in secret moan : 
But Fohla's lowly voice thus whisper'd mild : 

"Now Eire, in submission, leave the dead 



124: THE ROCK OF ARRANAIORE. 

To sleep on nature's breast and give thine ear 

The living actions of thy worthier sons ; 

Who, with the faithless Stuart, f orc'd to fly, 

The Gaulish king in battle chiefly serv'd. 

And fought and prospered in the world's great wars. 

Where hosts were nations, and the Gael, though few. 

Preeminent in faith and valour shin'd; 

Whom to their aid, earth's proudest kings would gain, 

Kivals in rich reward. Here Sarsfield reigns, 

Who oft from Lumneach's stubborn walls had scourg'd 

The Netherland; and now at <"'') Steinkirk meets. 

Leading thy sons, that led the Frank, and heaps 

Defeat sevenfold, with gore to match the tears 

Of woman's wail; again on Eoumont's field, ^^'> 

Twice punish'd, the same arm the tyrant flees. 

As wolf the forest fire. More proudly still, 

That Xetherland by Landen's '-^^ brook he smote, 

With rout, and spoil of all the bays he wore 

On Boand's sacred stream. there to see 

The red ranks in the flight of terror strewn. 

The Gael pursuing; the descending sword 

Light on their conquer'd necks with vengeful cries 

In Gaelic tongue, that load the clamorous air! 



THE ROCK OF ARRAXMORE. 125 

You'd think great Sarsfield was Fardora's son, 
And Landen on Blackwater's bank was fought 
In glory's days; there loyal death he finds: 
Thy name upon his heart, he bleeds, he cries : 
'0 that this blood were for my country shed,' 
Yea, e'en for thee ! For every feat in arms 
Or merit through the world, thy sons achieve, 
Thy lessening days of tribulation counts, 
And counts thy Saxon foes. The green and dry 
Pass with the oaks that bare them ; but thy sons 
In multitude, with storm-blown seed renew 
Their stems abroad to prosper, and prolong 
Seasons of glory; though the autumn fruit 
And summer pride thereof seem not for thee. 
To branch of blossom. '^"^^ Xay the less, for thee. 
Where'er the clash of arms, where'er the field. 
What e'er the cause, thy sons of love and wrath, 
Victorious, lost or won, thy warfare wage. 
E'en for thy name's sake, true to foreign kings 
That favour thee, though foreign graves their lot, 
A Sarsfield, every one, to thee bequeaths 
The homage of his deeds ; and to thy foe, 
The fear of thee, and to the world, thy praise. ^'^^^ 



126 THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

For that male virtue, thy long patience nurs'd. 

In memory cherish 'd, gendering on its kind. 

Begat a race, prolific of great souls, 

With names in golden annals writ, to tell 

Too numerous in this ill-seated rock. 

So soon forsaken : Eire, turn thine eyes ! 

For hither, Banba's welcome light I see 

Rise in the east, like Pleiad lost, return'd 

To shepherd's gaze: but Oh! how magnified! 

"Her form ethereal fire, the light of song, 
She rises from the sea : with herald haste 
Footing the hilly flood, her tresses wild 
Streaming behind her on th' outspeeded blast. 
In flowry ringlets capp'd with golden spar. 
Behold ! good tidings on her forehead shine : 
Her woodland harp she bears aloft; she sings 
The battle of the brave." Thus, Fohla's grace 
"With kindly art delay'd with lighter theme, 
The great event, that simple Banba share 
A herald's honours, and the mother's ear 
Receive her triumph with a livelier joy 
From rustic song, than cold philosophy; 
From Banba, once the nursling of her "woe^ 



THE BOCK OF ARRANMORE. 127 

Now, giver of joy, whom thus the mother greets: 
"Season of blooms ! how holy are the thoughts 
Thy skies awake, when first thy sunny tears 
O'ergreen the desert heart. Come,fervid bard! 
Breathe in my lips thy passion, and thy life 
Mingle with mine, and taste a mother's love, 
That winter hath not chill'd." Thus Eire drinks 
A healing joy ; but Banba harp'd and sang : 

"Hail ye the land where flocks and shepherds flee 
Their pasture leas before eternal wars, 
That rage beneath the springtide of the moon, 
And fleets thereon that ride! Hail ye the field 
Of Fontenoy (^2) beside the lingering Scheld, 
Where I, this hour, have seen the dragon fall. 
His thunder silenc'd and his eagles chain'd ; 
Chief glory of thy sons. I saw his bulk, 
Enormous in defeat, a crater fire. 
Burst in the east, and with its baneful spray, 
Sprinkle the nations; saw thy vengeful host. 
Trample its burning atoms, when earth's kings. 
And great ones round their thrones had felt the shock, 
With horror, of his fall. For if the waves 
That billow the swell'd bosom of the main, 



128 TEE ROCK OF ARRAXMOBE. 

Lifted b}^ earthquakes and the senseless winds. 
Should spurn the dungeons of the deep, and dare 
To combat with the mountains ; to o'erwhelm 
Their rocky armour, and the crested pines 
Drench in the bottom slime; if adverse gods 
The while, in battle join'd, should bring to aid 
Their tenfold thunder, stor'd for such a rack 
When gods encounter: with such tumult dire. 
Fell the Eed Dragon by the lingering Scheld. 
At Fontenoy he lies, where late he belch'd 
Internal fires. His flanks, inferior aids, 
The Austrian, Hanoverian, and the Boor, 
Light wings disdain'd, the Gaulish king, his prey, 
He reckon'd, and from narrow gorge ascending, 
Lighted on earth, in view. Before him blanch M 
The pride of nations; reckless fear took flight, 
Life's honour, empire, lost : till one great soul, 
Lally, ^^^^ though foreign born, thy cradTd son, 
With the great ones had counsell'd, how to save 
King's honour and their own, with deeper thoughts 
For Eire, how to rend the Dragon's limbs. 
Then instant, with the fiery Gael he flames 
In battle's front : Clare, now Lumu^ach's towers 



THE ROCK OF AREANMORE. 120 

Forget not ! and Thou, Dillon, count the slain ! 
This day, jj-our swords the perjurd faith requite, 
That wears the purple ! Dire on battlefield, 
SeemM hate so dark: I doubt thy god was pleas'd. 
Queen Eire, in thy holy penitence ! 

"'No sulphurous flame they hurl'd, but louder peals 
Than cannon's mouth avenge the women's wail; 
And the bright steel, the hero's better choice, 
Clash'd with the Dragon's teeth : and thus they dealt 
The blows of freedom; which, if dealt at home. 
Had rais'd thy crown and sceptre to the rank 
Of proudest monarchs, and to earth restor'd 
The treasure of thy grand humanity. 

"Then, as the falling sun with fiery locks, 
First leans his head upon the ocean's breast. 
And ponders little till the day is done; 
So short a space it took to burst the maw 
Of the Eed Dragon ! and if tears were found 
On glory's cheek at eve, Brave Dillon slain! ^^^^ 
As long as ocean's pearls with tears compare, 
Or golden memories of the harp recall. 
To bards of light, the chant of hero's fame; 
So long shall Eire's grateful tears, impearl 



130 THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE, 

Her eyeSj Great Soul ! at thine and Lally's praise. 

"Thus have I seen; but more have heard, since first, 
Dune of the trinal sepulcher I found, (^^^ 
There sent, where thy chief guardian saints repose: 
And further learn'd, with mute of speech enjoin'd, 
(Bitter constraint, lest joy untimely 'lume 
The dungeon of thy meritorious pain) 
When comes, the day, the fratricidal crime. 
By penitential works, in time appeas'd, 
Is expiate; when all the Gael dispers'd, 
Recaird, thy rights reclaim, with filial love 
And homage long they paid to foreign kings ; 
In martial strength, thy stolen crown replace. 
And sceptre reinstate on Blahma's height : 
Whither we now repair with penalty 
Kemiss, heaven's time and service there abide." 

Thus the wild bard proclaim'd, her eyes askant 
On the false friend laid low ; and Eire's thoughts, 
At length, solution find in latter days, 
Of that mysterious Providence, which gave 
To servile bonds, her kingdom; marvelling much 
At the resounding lay and martial fire 
Of shepherd-fostering Banba and her lute 



TEE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 131 

Of pastoral scope, so light for rugged war. 
But as she mus'd, behold a wonderous sign! 
A mighty billow of the western tide, 
From bless'd Hy-Brassail, waving its high crest 
Toward Aranmore, a beauteous serpent seem'd, 
And wise, that from the forest cross'd the sea, 
Rolling its azure length and speckl'd folds 
Under a vernal sun; and on the rock, 
As o'er their feet it stream'd, the waters smil'd. 
But quick receding, far from Eire's shore, 
The fell Tribemonster's bones it bare away: 
Whether the house of Lir his bulk receiv'd 
To help embroil more fierce the seething waves. 
Or rest in Tir-na-noge, his penance found. 
They reck'd not; and Queen Eire thus bespake: 
"Long have I found, the wisdom of this world, 
In home and realm, that boundless Providence, 
Whose narrow entrance trackless pride disdains; 
Till inward grief calls home the heart to learn. 
How that true friend to serve, and find the way. 
Henceforth my rise, the handmaid of thy will. 
Omnipotent ! e'en as my fall hath been : 
And Ye my sons, a mother's words revere I 



132 THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 

Unconquer'd Eire lives: revere and learn 

The Union's strength Fardora's son hath taught. 

To prosper 'mid the nations, or to strive. 

Fraternal love is multitude in arms; 

A slayer of hosts, a brother's envy : mark 

The fratricidal crime; what wrath from heaven. 

What chains it forg'd for Miled's warlike race, 

Giv'd by the cunning of a coward foe; 

And hence Fraternal love your motto choose: 

A God of love, our God, deserve of Him 

A brother's friendship and a father's care. 

Ye tribal kings! Ye hoary enmities! 

Now born again, renounce the ills of eld. 

And with new life, a holier strife prolong; 

With rival honours man the public weal 

To Union's godlike power ! Eire still lives 

To claim her righteous throne, and claim the hearts 

Of true born sons; and hence let Eire's name 

Each Gaelic soul with brother's love inspire." 

She spake, the scene is chang'd, the winds are fall'n; 
With frothy mouths, the sea wolves cease to howl ; 
The demons of the air no longer brood 
The evil blasts that blight earth's fruit, and sow 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 133 

The seeds of malice. Fohla now appears 
As if a nation in far sight she view'd. 
The light and thought of Eire's life and reign, 
Was Fohla of the sunny breast and brow : 
Banba, the goddess of the fruit and flower, 
Of both belov'd, a beauty ever young, 
Completes the group and blush with lily blends. 

Now the white-bosOm'd sisters of the Eock, 
With scorn of prison bonds, in pride of place 
Howe'er exalted, freedom's level plain 
Revisit, where the fiend is lighter arm'd 
For battle ; and where virtue hath more friends ; 
And as an April passing cloud, in sport 
Unbraids a snow shower; so in sport they glide. 
Hands joining, with no timid steps, beyond 
The skyward brink, and with a bound amaze 
The witless storms. The light of their descent, 
Lir's children turn'd to swans, might picture fair. 
When from the freezing coast, in darkling flight 
To rest on Ocean's slumbering billow, flash'd 
Their wings of virgin white, ere dawn was gray, 
And silence on the raging Moyle sat still : 
Long ere his watch old Ocean was arous'd. 



134 THE BOCK OF ARRANMORS. 

Taking their lustre for the morning star. 
So joyous was the leap from Arranmore 
And Saxon bonds. The setting sun was veil'd, 
While hand in hand, three sister queens advanc'd 
Over the level marble of the deep, 
Fairest that eve or morn e'er smiled upon. 
Hy-Brassail was his bower, his beacon glance 
Burst from a cloud of purple fringe and gold 
To the transfigured top of Blahma's height, 
And sate on Eire's throne. Thither they fared. 
In rest and hope, to bide her destin'd reign. 

Meanwhile, the Cappadocian Youth, Saint George, 
On Albion's banner fam'd, as once of old. 
Before th' imperial tyrant, arm'd he stood, 
In righteousness; now fill'd with Eire's cause. 
Before the golden and the emerald stars. 
Stands eminent, and to the earth born hosts 
Of spirits in judgment, and descending angels, 
(Such joy in heaven, a soul repentant moves) 
Under a gazing universe began: 

"Fruits worthy of penance have they borne. Ye Poweri I 
How wise to judge, that victory in arms, 
To faith outlaw'd and militant were due; 



THE BOCK OF ARRANMORE. 135 

To nerve resolve with double fortitude. 

That scorns the tyrant, and subverts his ways, 

In the long struggle, lest it perish whole. 

Now, of that victory in arms propos'd. 

The sequel, ere the action, here we find: 

The faith at home survives; but faith exil'd. 

Behold the fruits its wide dispersion reaps! 

And gaze with me, through parted mists, the scenes, 

The godly son of Calpruin here unfolds; 

Keenest of seers in the future days 

Of the great Fold he gather'd, and adjudge 

The cause of Eire by the suffrage free 

Of arbitrating heaven. Behold on earth, 

The altar and the victim sacrifice; 

Taste, as in heaven, the incense offering, 

And hark the joy bells from the earth ; the hymns, 

That voice the solemn temples. Turn your gaze 

On regions and their zones, with islands fring'd, 

Where they rebuilt His house, 'and left enshrin'd 

Their names and ashes : empires of the deep, 

Aurora or Vesper, new discover'd climes. 

With sovereign wealth and liberty endowed. 

For with their wandering feet, where e'er they face. 



136 TEE ROCK OF ARE AN MO RE. 

God's kingdom comes, and there his temples rise, 

"With spiritual dominion to enfold 

The infidel and heathen; and where'er 

In war or peace they bidC;, the prime of man 

They bring that nation, with an inborn light, 

God's service with man's freedom to uphold." 

Thus spake the Eed Cross Knight and guardian Saint 
Of Albion's Isle, and all the powers approve. 
And hence conclude : Biackwater's coming strife 
The future years involves, Fardora's son 
The victor, with the tribal host he leagues: 
For God found love in many, but in them, 
Love's constancy; and last, their doom fulfil'd, 
Their wandering steps recalls, and seats at home, 
Gadelas' sons with Eire's reign in peace. 

And here behold the power, the excellence 
Of heavenly beings: let our minds retrace 
From whence we wander'd, and the depths survey. 
Of separation ; years, thrice fifty summ'd : 
What argument in bardic flight to tell 
What, in a moment, their pure light disclos'd. 
To them, at Yellow ford, not yet had peal'd 
The war shout, soon to voice the distant years; 



THE ROCK OF ARRANMORE. 137 

No banners wav'd, no gory feast was spread: 
The vulture's food not yet had gather'd there. 
The fallen great unwept, the deeds of fame 
Unsung, and yet, the heart of time laid bare. 
* Thus, in the vision of God, his saints elect 
Can, at one view, ages to come behold, 
As pass'd, predestined none, their works foreseen; 
And generations, as the dead of old. 
To judgment bring, and what they will is fate. 
The moment pass'd, the umpire saints forsaking 
The gold and emerald pavements of their courts, 
Justice and penitence approv'd, depart 
With joy, to habit where their mansions stood. 
Built by heaven's Architect in stones that emblem 
The everlasting of their massy light. 

Their march triumphant on the starry track, 
Pass'd many luminous worlds, from Cygnus' feet 
To Vega's sphere melodious, or the coast 
Of Altair, where the bless'd Antinous dwells; 
Where other beings may habit, who, as man, 
Haply had never sinn'd, worthy to hear 
The music of celestial lays they sang. 
Then last, before the threshold gate, they pray'd, 



138 THE ROCK OF AERANMORE. 

Ere entrance due; "Father of every soul! 
Warring on earth, or in thy mansions crown'd. 
Accept our ministry of judgment given 
In Eire's right, with earnest suffrage join'd. 
And visitation of protecting care 
Over the vine, which Calpruin's godly son 
There planted, and with martyr's blood refresh'd 
In unpropitious years: and both our hosts, 
We pray, its guardians set; lest further wrong 
Or fear desertion cause; or freedom's boon, 
111 us'd, its precious fruit in time neglect; 
Or moral lack discard, or pride disdain." 

Thus, spirits of light, earth born, their mission clos'd, 
With morning's star, reenter heaven's repose. 



Notes. 



1. And now thy vitals tear: "Nothing civil or sacred 
escaped the fury of these (the early English) commanders; 
churches and religious houses were plundered and destroyed 
without mercy and distinction; murders, rapes, tyranny, 
and the most unconscionable oppressions, were the recrea- 
tion of these foreigners, who, without remorse or regret, 
confounded everything, human and divine, and made the 
island a most deplorable scene of bloodshed and misery. 
The Earl of Strangwell (Strongbow), Robert Fitz Stephen, 
Hugo de Lacy, John de Courcy, and William Aldelmel 
were severe instruments in the hands of Providence to 
chastise the divided natives ; . . . But divine vengeance, 
notwithstanding they raged Avith impunity, fixed a mark 
of infamy upon the families of these plunderers, for scarce 
a man of them left a son behind him to enjoy the effects 
of their father's oppression ; as Stanihurst expressly testi- 
fies of the Earl of Strangwell, who, after he had committed 
inexpressible outrages upon the natives, ravaged and de- 
stroyed churches and monasteries, and expelled the clergy, 
regular and secular without distinction, died miserably at 
Dublin, in the year of Christ 1177, after a tyranny of 
seven years from his first landing in the country." Keat- 
ing Hist. 

"De Courcy rapidly overran Ulidia, overthrew the allied 
troops, slew the Fermanagh chieftain, then marched 

139 



140 NOTES: SCENE III. 

against Armagh . . . which he assailed, stormed 
pillaged and burned." 

•'Meanv/hile, the English of Munster continued to de- 
vastate the countn'' of Desmond from the river Shannon 
to the Eastern sea." The Abhe MacOeoghegan, Hist. ch. 
XIX. 

"The progress of the British armies in Ulster, as well as 
in the other provinces of the kingdom, was ruinous to the 
churches and monasteries of the country. . . . And 
now various literary works, which had escaped the ravages 
of the merciless Danes, were destroyed in the libraries of 
the monks." Stuart's Armagh, p. 160-3. 

"The end will, I assure me, be very short and much 
sooner than can be in so great a trouble as it seemeth hoped 
for, although there should none of them fall by the sword, 
nor be slain by the soldier, yet thus being kept from manur- 
ance, and their cattle from running abroad, by this hard 
restraint, they would quickly consume themselves and 
devour one another. The proof whereof I saw sufficiently 
exampled in these late wars of Munster ; for, notwithstand- 
ing that the same was a most rich and plentiful country, 
full of corn and cattle, that you would have thought they 
should have been able to stand long, yet ere one year and 
a half they were brought to such wretchedness, as that any 
stony heart would have rued the same. Out of every cor- 
ner of the woods and glens they came creeping forth upon 
their hands, for their legs could not bear them; they 
looked like anatomies of death, they spake like ghosts cry- 
ing out of their graves, they did eat the dead carrions, 
happy where they could thus find them, yea, and one an- 
other soon after, insomuch as the very carcasses they spared 
not to scrape out of their graves ; and if they found a plot 
of watercresses or shamrocks, there they flocked as to a 
feast for the time, yet not able long to continue there 



NOTES: SCENE III. 141 

withal; that, in short space, there were none almost left, 
and a most populous and plentiful country suddenly left 
void of man and boast; yet sure in all that war, there per- 
ished not many by the sword, but all by the extremity of 
famine, which they themselves had wrought." 

"Therefore by all means it must be foreseen and assured, 
that after once entering into this of reformation, there be 
afterwards no remorse nor drawing back from the sight 
of any such rueful objects as must thereupon follow, nor 
for compassion of their calamities; seeing that by no 
other means is it possible to cure them, and that these are 
not of will, but of very urgent necessity." A View of the 
State of Ireland, by Edmund Spencer, author of "The 
Faerie Queen." 

"The English nation was shuddering over the atrocities 
of the Duke of Alva. The children in the nurseries were 
being inflamed to patriotic rage and madness by the tales 
of the Spanish tyranny. Yet Alva's bloody sword never 
touched the young, the defenceless, or those whose sex even 
dogs can recognize and respect." 

"Sir Peter Carow has been murdering women and chil- 
dren, and babies that had scarcely left the breast, but Sir 
Peter Carew was not called on to answer for his conduct, 
and remained in favour with the Deputy. Gilbert, who 
was left in command at Kilmallock, was illustrating yet 
more signally the same tendency. . . . He regarded 
himself as dealing rather v/ith savage beasts than with 
human beings, and when he tracked them to their dens, 
he strangled the cubs and rooted out the entire broods." 

"The Gilbert method of treatment (in the time of Eliza- 
beth), had this disadvantage, that it must be carried out 
to the last extremity, or it ought not be tried at all. The 
dead do not come Hack; and if the mothers and the babes 
are slaughtered with the men, the race gives no further 
trouble; but the work must be done thoroughly; partial 



142 NOTES: SOME III. 

and fitful cruelty lays up only a long debt of deserved and 
ever deepening hate." Froude, Hist. Eng., vol. X, p. 
507-12. 

2. Crom Cruah: "The great Idol of Milesian pagan 
worship, the Delphos of our Gadelian ancestors, from the 
time of their first coming into Erin until the destruction 
of the idol by St. Patrick." O'Curry, M. S. Materials, p. 
103. 

"King Tiernmas, with three parts of his subjects per- 
ished, by the judgment of heaven, at Moy Slaght upon 
the eve of the festival of Samhuin as he was worshiping 
his idol Crom Cruah, the same god that Zoroaster adored 
in Greece. The Irish antiquarians agree, that Tiernmas 
was the first that introduced idolatry, and erected pagan 
altars in the island, about a hundred years after the 
Milesians arrived in the country." Keating, Hist. Ire. 
Dr. Charles O'Conor, Prol., part 1, p. 22. O'Flaherty, 
Ogygia, part 3, p. 194. 

"Patrick after that went over the water to Magh Slecht, 
where stood the chief Idol of Eirin, i. e., Cenn Cruaich, 
ornamented with gold and with silver, and twelve other 
idols ornamented with brass around him. . . . And 
he called upon all the people cum rege Leaghuire; they it 
was that adored the idol. And all the people saw him 
(t. e., the demon), and they dreaded their dying if Patrick 
had not sent him to Hell." O'Curry, M. 8. Materials, 
p. 539. 

3. In Fohla's ancient code: "In one of Claudian's 
poems, Britain, personified as Britania, speaks of Stilico, 
the Roman general, protecting her from neighbouring na- 
tions when the Scots moved all leme, and the sea foamed 



NOTES: SCENE III. 143 

with hostile oars." O'Curry. Manners and Customs of the 
Ancient Irish, vol. 1. p. 14. 

"In the fifth campaign, Agricola, crossing over m the 
first ship, subdued, by frequent and successful engage- 
ments, several nations, till then unknown; and stationed 
.roops in that part of Britain which is opposite to Ireland, 
rather with a view to future advantage, than from any 
apprehension of danger from that quarter. For the pos- 
session of Ireland, situated between Britain and Spain, 
and lying commodiously to the Gallic sea, would have 
formed a very beneficial connection between the most pow- 
erful parts of the empire. This Island is less than Britain, 
but larger than those of our sea. Its soil, climate, and the 
m.anners and dispositions of its inhabitants, are little dif- 
ferent from those of Britain. Its ports and harbours, from 
the concourse of merchants for the purpose of commerce, 
are letter known." Tacitus. "Vita Agricolae." ch. 24. 

4. His mansion stood: "The public schools, namely, 
Bangor, Ardmach, Lismore, Ros Ailithir, otherwise Eos 
Carbery, Clonard, etc." MacGeoghegan, Hist. Ire. ch. 
XII. 

"We know that multitudes of students flocked to the 
college of Lismore, from all parts of Europe. Even so 
early as the time of the famous Irish scholar Catald, its 
reputation is believed to have been firmly established. That 
philosopher presided over the academy; and from the 
classic lines written by Bonaventura Moronus, a Tarentine 
by birth, we learn that multitudes from all the nations 
vho inhnbited the borders of the Ehine and Elbe; that the 
Teutonici, the people of Guelderland, the Bohemians, the 
Arverni, the Batavians, as well as the Genevese, the Hel- 
vetians, the Scottish Islanders, etc., flocked to Lismore to 



144 NOTES: SCENE III. 

study under Catald." Stuart Hist. Armagh, XLVIII. 
Intro. 

5. They chose for contemplation: "There were then 
in Ireland many nobles and gentry from among the Eng- 
lish, who, in the time of bishop Finanus and Oolmanus, 
having withdrawn themselves thither, either for the sake 
of divine study or to live more chaste lives, some gave 
themselves up to a monastic life, and others attended in 
the monasteries to hear the professors. All "of them the 
Scots most freely admitted, and supplied them gratis with 
daily sustenance, with books and masters." Bede's Church 
Hist. h. 3. ch. 37. 

6. South to the Midland Sea: "That the Hibernians 
were lovers of learning, and distinguished themselves, in 
those days of ignorance, by the culture of the sciences, be- 
yond all European nations, travelling the most distant 
lands with a view to improve and communicate their knowl- 
edge, is a fact with which I have been long acquainted, as 
we see them in the most authentic records of antiquity, 
discharging with the highest reputation and applause, the 
functions of doctors in France, Germany and Italy, both 
in this and the following century. But that these Hiber- 
nians were the first teachers of Scholastic theology in 
Europe, and so early as the eighth century, illustrated the 
doctrine of religion by philosophy, I learned but latci ; 
from the testimony of Benedict, abbot of Aniam, in thi 
province of Languedoc. who lived in that period." Moshen], 
quoted hy Ledwich. 

"The disciples of Patrick made so great a progress in 
Christianity, that, in the following age, Ireland was called 
the Island of Saints; and none could be more holy and 
learned than the Irish monks, both in their own country 



NOTES: SCENE III. 145 

and Britain, who sent swarms of most holy men mto all 
Europe. To them, Luxovium, in Burgimdy, Bohiense in 
Italy, Hornipolis in Franconia, S. Gallus in Helvietia, 
Malmesburia in Lindefarm, and many other monasteries 
in Britain owe their origin. The following saints were 
from Ireland : Celius Sedulius, Maidulphus, Brendanus, 
and many others, who were renowned for sanctity and 
learning." Camden, p. 730. 

"There came a certain man from the Western boundaries 
of the world, powerful in virtue, filled with divine love 
acute and fervent — ^he came to thee, happy France, in 
the time of King Pepin : fruitful Britain was his mother, 
but learned Ireland nurtured him in sacred study; his 
name was Willibrordus." Usher's Syllogisms. 

"The holy youth, desirous to rival their religious avoca- 
tions, with the consent of his abbot and brethren, speedily 
proceeds to Ireland. There, during twelve years, he was 
taught among the most pious and religious masters, that 
he would become a preacher to many people." Alcuin, 
Life of Willihrordus. 

"The blessed Petrocus was from the county of Cumber- 
land, being the son of a King. . . . He, however, 
slighted the pomp of royalty, and taking with him sixty 
companions, entered a monastery, where he took the habit 
of the order. In some years after this, proceeding to Ire- 
land, he spent twenty years in the study of the Scriptures 
and sacred discipline. ... A treasure was found at 
length by so assiduous a regard for study, which lest it 
should lie hidden, the finder transferred this Irish treasure 
to Cumberland, that he might exhibit it to the view of all." 
Usher, ch. 14, p. 563. 

7. Steinkirk: "Of the conduct of ihe Irish in this 
dashing affair, the French account says — 'The Guards of 



146 NOTES: SCENE III. 

the King of England (James the II.), and the Irish regi- 
ments, have very much signalized themselves there.' " 
O'Callaghan, Hist, of the Irish Brigades in the Service of 
France, p. 166. 

"The battle was long and bloody, and was finished by a 
splendid charge of French cavalry, among the foremost of 
whose leaders was the same glorious Sarsiield, whose sword 
had once before driven back the same William from before 
the walls of Limirick." Mitchel, MacGoeghegan continued, 
p. 10. 

8. Roumont's field: see O'Callaghan, p. 168. 

9. Landen: "The principal event in 1693, of the war 
in Flanders, was the battle of Landen, otherwise Neer- 
winden, or ISTecrhcspen, fought, June 29th, between the 
Marshal Duke of Luxembourg and William III. The 
force of the Marshal amounted to 96 battalions, 210 squad- 
rons, and 70 pieces of cannon. The force of the King 
amounted to 65 battalions, 150 squadrons, and 80 pieces 
of cannon, besides mortars, or howitzers. ... At last 
in that part of the field where the brigade at Harbouville 
was appointed to act, the Irish 'Gardes du Roi Jacques/ 
distinguished as in their own country against Ginkell and 
his allied force at Aughrim, and duly animated by the 
signal intrepidity of Colonel Barrett as a leader, obtained a 
glorious revenge for the reverses of the Boyne and Limi- 
rick, by being the first corps to make an opening into the 
Williamite intrenchment, through which their French com- 
panions in arms followed, — this honourable success, how- 
ever, having been purchased by the death of the brave 
Colonel Barrett," O'Callaghan, Irish Brig., p. 171. 

"At length the flying army of William arrived at the 
little river Cette; and here the retreat was in danger of 



NOTES: SCENE III. U7 

becoming a total rout. Arms and standards were flung 
away, and multitudes of fugitives were choking up the 
fords and bridge of the river, or perishing in its waters, 
so fiercely did the victors press upon their rear. It was 
here that Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan, who had that 
da}', as well as at Steinkirk, earned the admiration of the 
whole French army, received his death-shot at the head of 
his men. It was a happy moment. Before he fell, he 
could see the standards of England swept along by the 
tide of headlong flight, or trailing in the muddy waters of 
the Cette — he could see the scarlet ranks that he had once 
hurled back from the ramparts of Limirick, now rent and 
riven, fast falling in their wild flight, while there was sent 
pealing after tliem tlie vengeful shout, 'Remicmber Limi- 
rick!' Mitchel. MacOeoghegan, continued, p. 12. 

10. To branch or blossom : "Charles IT, the last King 
of Spain of the Austrian line, deceased in Novem})er, 1700, 
having by his will, nominated, as heir to his dominions, 
Philip, Duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV, in order 
that, through the aid of France, the Spanish monarchy 
might be preserved from the dismemberment with which 
it was menaced, Louis, by accepting this will, gave rise to 
the confederacy against him, between the House of Austria, 
England, Holhmd, and other powers, which occasioned the 
long and sanguinary contest, known as the 'War of the 
Spanish Succession.^ The first hostilities occurred in 
Italy, in 1701, between the Imperialists, undor the illus- 
trious Prince Eugene, and the French, Spanish and Pied- 
montese forces, under Victor Amadous II, Duke of Savoy 
(then allied with France), and the ]\Iarshal de Catinat. 
. . . The first great military occurrence in Italy, in 
1702, was the celebrated enterprise against Cremona by 
Prince Eugene. . . . The Whig writer, Forman, re- 
marking of the affair of Cremona, 'that the Irish per- 
form.ed there the most im^portant piece of service for Louis 



148 NOTES: SCENE HI. 

XIV, that, perhaps, any King of France ever received 
from so small a body of men, since the foundation of that 
monarchy,' adds — 'This action of the Irish, by an impartial 
way of reasoning, saved the whole French army in Italy; 
the destruction of which, according to the account itself, 
as well as the opinion of all military men, must have been 
the infallible consequence of the loss of Cremona. It was 
also thought in England, to have so much influence over 
the affairs of Europe, as they stood at that time, that, as I 
have been informed, a Member of the House of Commons, 
upon the arrival of the news, said in Parliament, that 
those two regiments had done more mischief to the High 
Allies, than all the Irish abroad could have done, had they 
been kept at home, and left in the entire possession of their 
estates. . . . 'Had they done nothing else,' concludes 
Forman, 'this one action would alone be sufficient to 
eternize them,'" O'CaUaghan Irish Brigades, p. 195-216. 

11. And to the world, thy praise : " 'Almanza was the 
most fatal blov/,' says an English contemporary, 'that ever 
the English received, during the whole war with Spain;' 
and adds another, 'as fatal in itself, and its consequences 
to the Allies in Spain, as the battle of Blenheim, or that 
of Turin, was to the French, in Germany, and Italy.' . . . 
Count O'Mahony is named with the 'General Officers dis- 
tinguished there, as having contributed to that victory, by 
movements duly executed.' And of the Count and his 
regiment more particularly, 'at the battle of Almanza,' 
relates the Chevalier de Bellerive, 'he performed, at the 
head of his Irish regiment of Dragoons, astonishing ac- 
tions.'" O'Callaglian. p, 247-8. 

"jSTor was it till repeatedly charged by the elite of Ber- 
wick's army, including the Irish, that they were forced to 
retreat; 3,000 killed, 10,000 prisoners, and 120 standards, 



NOTES: SCENE III. 149 

attested the magnitude of the victory. It put King Philip 
V on the throne of Spain. In the siege of Barcelona, Dil- 
lon's regiment fought with great effect." MitcheVi Mac- 
Oeoghegan, continued, p. 33-4. 

"It was not alone in the French service that our military 
exiles won renown. The O'Donnells^ O'JSTeills, and 
O'Eeillys, wit hthe relics of their Ulster clans, preferred 
to fight under the Spanish flag; and in the war of the 
'Spanish Succession/ Spain had five Irish regiments in 
her army; whose commanders were O'Reillys, O'Garas, 
Lacys, Wogans, and Lawlesses. . . . For several gen- 
erations a succession of Irish soldiers of rank and distinc- 
tion were always to be found under the Spanish standard ; 
and in that kingdom, those who had been chiefs in their 
own land were always recognized as 'Grandees,' the equals 
of the proudest nobles of Castile. Hence the many noble 
families of Irish race and name still to be found in Spain 
at this day." Hid., p. 34. 

12. Fontenoy: "King George II, like his predecessor, 
had adhered to the 'Pragmatic Sanction,' that favourite of 
the Austrian Emperor Charles VI, for securing the suc- 
cession of the possessions of the House of Austria to the 
Archduchess Marie Theresa, Queen of Hungary. On the 
30th of October, 1740, the Emperor Charles died, and all 
Europe was almost immediately plunged into general war 
. . , and King George II, with his son, the Duke of 
Cumberland, had gone over to take command of the British 
and Hanoverian troops, operating on the French frontier, 
while Central Germany was fiercely debated between the 
Empress Queen, allied with England, and Frederick of 
Prussia allied with France. ... In this year 1744, 
however, great preparations were made on both sides for a 
decisive campaign. The French army was increased in the 
Netherlands, and on the other side the English court had 



150 - NOTES: SCENE III. 

at length prevailed on the States-General of Holland to 
join the alliance against France. In September of that 
year, the allies, then in camp at Spire, were reinforced by 
20,000 Dutch, who were time enough, unluckily for them, 
to take a share in the great and crowning battle of Fonte- 
noy." MitcheVs McGeogliegan, p. 61-3. 



13. Lally: "His father was Sir Gerard Lally (prop- 
erly O'Mullally), of Tullindale; and had been one of the 
defenders of Limirick, and one of those who volunteered 
for France with Sarsfield. Sir Gerard became immediately 
an officer in the French service, and his son, the Count 
Lally, was born at Eomans, in Dauphine when his father 
vras there in garrison." Ibid. p. 63, 



14. Dillon slain : "It cost the Irish Brigade dear. The 
gallant Dillon was killed, with one-fourth of the officers 
and one-third of the rank and file ; but the imm.ediate con- 
sequences to France were immense — Tournay at once sur- 
rendered; Ghent, Oudenarde, Bruges, Dendermonde, Os- 
tend, were taken in quick succession ; and the English and 
their allies driven back behind the swamps and canals of 
Holland. None of all the French victories in that age 
caused in Paris such a tumult of Joy and exultation. In 
England there were lamentation, and wrath, and court- 
martial. ... In Ireland, as the news came iu, first, 
of the British defeat, and then, gradually, of the glorious 
achievements of the brigade and the honours paid to Irish 
soldiers, a sudden but silent flush of triumph and hope 
broke upon the oppressed race ; and many a gloomy counte- 
nance brightened v.'ith a gleam of stern joy, in the thought 
that the long-mourned ^Wild-geese' would one day return, 
"with freedom and vengeance in the flash of the bayonets 
of Fontenoy/' MitcheVs Life of Hugh O'Neill p. 63. 



NOTES: SCENE III. 151 

15. Dime of the trinal. sepulcher : 

Downpatrick. 'Tew towns in this kingdom can boast 
of a foundation more ancient. It is generally supposed to 
be the Dunum mentioned by Ptolemy; and though now 
possessing few traces of its former magnificence, it is rep- 
resented by the early annalists as a place of considerable 
importance, distinguished by the number and splendour of 
its monastic establishments. . . , The monastery was 
erected in the fifth century by St. Patrick, on a hill called 
Dun, granted to him for that purpose by the chieftain of 
the Dal-dichu, who had become a Christian; and here, in 
493, was interred the body of its founder, who closed his 
labours in the Abbey of Saul, at the patriarchal age of 
120.'^ Dublin Penny Journal. Quoted hy J. B. Doule. 
Antiq. and seen. North of Ire. 

"According to the Annals of Ulster, Dermot, Abbot of 
lona, came to Ireland A.D. 851, with the rich shrine con- 
taining the remains of relics of Columkille, which were 
buried in Downpatrick, along with those of St. Patrick and 
St. Bridget. 

"The cathedral of Downpatrick was, for many centuries, 
decorated with the beautiful marble statues of the three 
saints, but in the reign of Henry VIII., A.D. 1538, the lord 
deputy, Leonard Grey, having invaded Ulster, plundered 
and burned the town and cathedral of Downpatrick; and 
he and his barbarous soldiers broke and defaced the statues 
of SS. Patrick, Bridget, and Columbille." Connellan's 
Four Masters, p, 96, n. 



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